


Stressed and Depressed

by PrinceAHope



Category: Heathers (1988), IT (2017), My Friend Dahmer (2017), Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, fucking hell, warning: slight smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-03-20 17:55:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 20
Words: 57,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18997612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrinceAHope/pseuds/PrinceAHope
Summary: hugeass 80s mashup of a bunch of things and fandoms, I haven't updated it in forever lmao. also,,, all the trigger warnings(Not PrinceAHope's work, this is his roommate's because I can't get an account on this hellsite rip)





	1. The Beginning of the End

_ “It’s going to be alright. Nothing bad is going to happen. I’m safe. They can’t find me here.”  _

Those words echoed silently off the tall, winding trees of those woods. The woods that belong to a small town that hosted many odd events. The affluent girl herself hadn’t witnessed anything that was peculiar yet, and she assumed she wouldn’t be impressed. She’d seen stranger things after all. Nothing could quite phase her anymore. Not possession, nor aliens, nor monsters, nor clowns. Not after all the hell she’d endured, not after realizing who the real monster was. 

A breath of smoke exhaled through her nostrils as she held a lit cigarette pursed in her plump lips, her hands lazily tucked away in the confines of leather pockets. This girl, wasn’t talking or really thinking, though. No, the voice she heard weren’t hers and she was sure she wasn’t mentally ill. Not in that aspect at least, no. These words were not hers and trying to find their location was a moot point because of how large and dense these woods were. They were too big to pinpoint any sound, no matter how big the sound. It was whatever, the girl thought. If it was anything serious the problem would’ve shown up by now. At least she thought. 

Still, she kept walking. She needed time away from her problems, namely her family. A lovely atomic family. A husband, a wife, and a twin set of children; it was almost too good to be true and, well, it was. The father committed infidelity on a daily, the mother was drunk on wine, and the son… well it was best not to bring that up. This lonely girl had just found out that she was supposed to have a younger sister, but due to her mother’s heavy drinking that dream was no more. It was for the best anyway. No child should have to suffer living with that family.

So to keep her mind off the sound of tears that she’d been listening to for the past few days as the family unpacked, she decided to listen to the silence of the forest and the slight sound her leather pants made when she strode forward. It worked for the time being, even though she knew it was only temporary. The girl felt like she needed something more permanent. Maybe she’d follow in her mom’s footsteps, or maybe she’d take a different route into hard drugs. Nothing to ease the mind like that, right? 

Her tired, blue eyes stared ahead, the bright embers of her cigarette illuminating them partially. The cancerous drug was almost to its end, and this thin brunette still felt little to no better than she had before she’d begun to walk. She just assumed that things wouldn’t ever get better and that she was stuck with her horrible family and there was no way out. Except for suicide, that was.

It was no secret that she was depressed, she had PTSD, and she also had an eating disorder. She just didn’t tell people that she felt these things, and she kept her mannerisms and such very monotone at all times. It wasn’t because she was embarrassed but she found that people asking about her feelings was rather annoying most of the time. And so, with that being said, most people just thought of her as cool, calm, and collected… but that was also annoying to her. Why couldn’t she just be normal? It seems that fate had fucked her over in multiple aspects. Wait. That wasn’t right, was it? There is no such thing as fate, and it was something she believed in heavily. No matter how her life started out or how things were going now she would forge her own path. Taking one that someone else had made for her seemed silly and foolish, so she decided from a young age that she would twist fate’s arm. Her name was Opal and this is where she had landed herself in life. She did this to herself, deciding to walk into the forest, contemplating all these despicable acts such as ending her own life. That’d give fate a run for its money, wouldn’t it? Yeah, that sounds about right. 

In that moment, some sounds that were present before became even louder and for the first time, our main character noticed. They were much too heavy to be a small animal and much too rushed to be a predator stalking prey. Great, she thought. It was someone sent to look for her. She would be in trouble and her situation would only get worse. Just brilliant. A smoke-filled sigh left her lips as her eyes trailed to the faint light growing stronger between the trees. She stopped her movements and waited for a moment before going in the direction of the light. Might as well try to lessen her punishment. 

It was a blur, the next few seconds. Something flew at her face, the light got brighter, and she was holding whatever was about to hit her. She stood there, regaining her ability to see, and there stood not her parents, or the police, but a girl. She had short hair and an overall anxious aura about her. Opal quirked a brow at the taller girl, still holding what appeared to be a metal pipe in her hand, her black painted nails gripping onto it tightly while the girl did likewise on the other end, still frightened for whatever reason. Of course her parents hadn’t noticed she was gone. Nothing new there. 

She took a minute took look at her eyes, or one visible eye and the sliver of another beneath her bangs. She breathed in the last of her cigarette before taking it from between her lips, smothering it out on a nearby tree before flicking it to the leaf cluttered ground. This girl, even though she was taller than her, looked adequately afraid of Opal, which was perfect. Opal was an intimidating girl when she wanted to be (which was most of the time, truthfully). 

“Problem, officer?” She said in a monotone voice. 

That was extreme sarcasm, seeing as this girl was no officer, but she did seem to have some sort of issue. 

“N-No, I uh, I’m scared of the woods.” The other girl explained, lowering her weapon as Opal let go of it. Opal squinted up at the taller girl and shoved her hands back into her pockets. 

“Then wanna explain why you even came here in the first place?”  

“I was trying to de-sensitize myself. You know, face my fears head on.” She replied. 

The brunette nodded. That was respectable, seeing as at least she had enough courage to face her problems. Meanwhile Opal was quite literally walking away from hers. How courageous of this knight. She was no ordinary, boring one, that was for sure. “So,” the other girl spoke up, looking anywhere but Opal until the last minute, “I haven’t seen you around school… are you new?” This girl asked quietly. She mostly asked not because she hadn’t seen her around school, but because she would’ve noticed if there were a British accented person in her class. “No, I’m fresh off the plane. It’s exciting, right? Having a new person in this town. Of course, I’ve heard that more interesting things have happened. Who would’ve thought that a sleepy little place like this had its moments?” She muttered the last part to herself before continuing. “But I will be joining you in school. Hawkins High, right? It’s the only school here.” She muttered, pulling out a pack of cigarettes whose logo matched a few shirts at her house (along with ones belonging to brands of alcohol). Her pale hand quickly moved to put another in her mouth and light the end, and she sucked in harshly enough to see the hollows of her cheeks. “Yeah, that’s the place…” The other said, obviously even more intimidated than before. This girl was way out of her friendship league. She hung out with the nerds! Not the cool girls who seemed like they’d skip class to smoke… or even worse; they’d just do it in the girl’s restroom!

“Right.” Opal said, taking her cigarette in between her ring studded index and middle finger. “Well it’d be nice to have your name before I see you in school.” Nameless girl seemed stunned. She wanted to know her name.  _ Her  _ name. 

“It’s Bonnibel. Bonnibel Moreau… I’m…” Found? A lab escapee? “Adopted.” Good! But why would this girl need to know that information? She didn’t. Wow, already she fucked up her chances of being friends with the new,  _ cool _ , girl. In her dazed state, she almost didn’t feel a gust of wind hit her. She snapped back to reality, her innocent hazel eyes met with this girl walking away. 

“Wait! What’s your name?” Bonnibel called after her, furrowing her brows.

The shorter girl turned and looked behind her, smoke leaking from her lips, icy blue eyes gazing at hers. She seemed almost… dead? As if all of the problems she had were centuries old. She was so mysterious. 

“Name’s Opal.” Said the girl. 

And with that, she disappeared into the thick overgrowth that was the woods of Hawkins, Indiana, her mysterious yet elegant air standing still around Bonnibel, leaving her nearly breathless.


	2. Bad Habits

It was early in the morning. A blanket of dew droplets covered the ground, causing anyone to walk on the grass to have little wet shards of green stuck to their legs. The sun resembled that of a sunny-side-up egg, pink and yellow and orange and very bright. It was a pretty sight to most. However, that didn’t apply to a certain person currently residing in her bed, ignoring everything from the light seeping through her curtains to the alarm tone blaring out of her clock. It was too early. Much too early. She’d spent the previous night drinking her problems away, or at least attempting to, so needless to say she didn’t want to wake up. At all. 

A groan erupted from the pile of blankets that was Opal Audrey Bellis at the moment. It took a while for her surroundings to come into focus, but once they did she discovered something. One, she was pretty late. Second, she’d broken her alarm with a nearby candle holder. 

Slowly, she stretched and sat up at the edge of her bed, glancing at the bludgeoned alarm clock, empty glass bottles, and cigarette packs. A tired sigh escaped her lips and she decided then and there that “Oh well. Guess I can just take my time now.” Standing up, she grabbed a bottle and swallowed the last of the contents before heading into her bathroom to shower away the stench of frustration she held from last night. With every warm drop of water, her hangover went away, and she felt physically better. Mentally, not so much. Soon enough her pleasantly sweet scent was restored and she exited the shower back into her room. Her small hand reached up and rubbed her face, growing annoyed thinking about the fact that her brother was already at school and she’d be scolded when she actually arrived because of her tardiness. School was a bunch of bullshit if you asked her, and really the only good thing about it was that she was able to see her friend daily. It ached to call her a friend, let alone her best friend, so she didn’t say it often, or at all really. Other kids were nice, too. Well at least the nerdy kids but she assumed that they were just being polite, not that she was practically the whole school’s new obsession since the fact that one of the students had been possessed by some kind of demon. 

As she buttoned up her shorts and slipped on her shoes, she heard the stirring down stairs, and then she knew it was time to go before her parents found out she was late, or that she was still at home in general. That would end up badly for her, wouldn’t it? And so, dawning only her black bra on her top half and a pack of cigarettes hanging out of her back pocket, she hopped out of her window and jumped off her roof. It was a fifty-fifty chance that she could possibly die, but that was good for her either way. We all know she didn’t die, though, or else there would be no story, no main character, and I wouldn’t be going on. 

She landed on her sneakers, making a light thud that was muffled out by the grass, and it was a hard fall so it took her some time to stand up and begin running away from the hell hole that was her residence. 

Running made Opal tired, but it was something she practiced on the regular. She would run and run and run as fast as she could, because some silly, naïve part of her believed that if she ran fast enough, she’d lose her problems and they’d be left behind her in a trail of dust, but those were only dreams and dreams never came true. She felt so stupid for thinking things like that. You know, things like she’d actually be happy for once, but she figured she was only human.

By the time she made it to school, the brunette was utterly out of breath and her lungs ached. She didn’t take good enough care of her body to be doing all of these strenuous activities like running. She was too thin and she smoked much too often, and she consumed alcohol regularly. Treat your body like a temple, they say. How does one who doesn’t believe in a god do that? They didn’t. Which landed the dark art studying girl here, hunched over near the loaded bike rack next to the school’s parking lot. 

As soon as she was finished panting from running with piece of shit lungs, she proceeded to light up right there at school, as if she hadn’t learned her lesson. And I mean, she hadn’t. Fuck life, she was going to die soon or sooner, hopefully not later.  She didn’t want there to be a later.

Her dark circle encased eyed glanced over at the bike racks before she strode off aimlessly, cigarette in hand, smoke trailing behind her. “I wish I had a bike.” She muttered to herself. Riding to school would be easier than running or having to endure the bus with her brother stuck to her side like a parasite the whole damn time. That thought made her shiver. Not just the bus part, but her brother in general. He made her shiver, he sent chills down her spine. And in the most terrible way possible. 

Being realistic, she didn’t want to go to class. She was sure that no one truly wanted to go to school. It was boring. But right now, she quite literally wouldn’t show up to class in a lace bra and shorts, she’d get expelled and then there would be no end to that, except for suicide; the answer to seemingly all of Opal’s problems.

It was just her luck, though, that nearby was the gym, and even closer, the exit to the boy’s locker room. If she was correct on the timing, gym class would’ve already started by then and so no one would be in there! One of her problems solved almost immediately. Getting into the locker room through the exit doors was easier than she had thought, too. All that Opal really needed to do was slide her pocket knife through the crack of the door and pull the handle open, and there it was. 

Wait.

Ew.

This locker room was disgusting. Then again, what did she expect? This place was where there were nothing but hormone ridden teenage boys acting like idiots most of the time, and there were no maids, or janitors for that matter, that cared enough about this place to clean it well. So like anyone could imagine, the bathroom part was a mess, the water fountain was filled with chewed gum, there were jock straps everywhere, and Opal was positive she smelled a rotting body.

It’s not like she would know what one smelled like, though. Or did she?

The point was, it was nasty. Enough so that she almost choked on the smoke that was infiltrating her lungs. She didn’t, though. Instead she walked around, digging through the freshmen class’s bags and discarded clothes for a shirt. Did it bother her that she’d be wearing a boy’s shirt? No. clothes were clothes, regardless of what gender they were specified for. Look at Opes breaking the patriarchy in the 80’s. 

It took her a while to find anything that caught her eye, because yes, even if she was in dire need of a shirt she was going to make sure it would at least look okay, that’s just how she was. 

It was only until she got to a cluster of backpacks by each other that she began to see some things that could possibly work. She assumed whoever these things belonged to weren’t the coolest or most popular of kids, mostly because the video game, comic book, and dungeons and dragons memorabilia gave that away quickly. As she palmed through the pile of clothes, she found what appeared to be one of those shirts a Hawaiian tourist would wear. It was white with little dark green palm leaves on it and it didn’t really look that terrible… okay no it looked  _ bad _ . But it would have to work because it sounded like things were coming to an end in the gym and she needed to jet the fuck out of there before she got caught. 

Holding her still burning cigarette in her hand, her Marlboro pack still visible in her shorts, she messily tucked the shirt in and began to button it up, until she heard a herd of footsteps and slightly deepened voices outside of the walls, and that’s when she took off as fast as she could until she was finally inside of the school building, briskly walking to class.

She took a moment to snuff out her cigarette butt onto her teacher’s door before opening it and flicking the trash onto the floor. Opal made a point to be extra quiet and as stealthy as she could manage so she didn’t draw any attention. She didn’t feel like being tardy and if anyone asked, she could say that she’d just been quiet. Hopefully her disheveled clothing wouldn’t give her away. Her shirt (or whomever it belonged to) was half tucked in and was only buttoned half way up, so really her bra was still visible. It was a look, though. No one said it would be a good one, but it was a look. 

Not all students were as oblivious as Opal would’ve liked them to be, though. A nearby rosy blonde leaned over to her desk and held something out to her.

“You dropped these. Where have you been? I was wondering where you were. Everyone was asking about you, too.” Bonnibel furrowed her brows, and Opal could tell she was worried. Then again, when wasn’t she? 

Opal peered over at her hand, and in it was her pack of cigarettes. She quickly feeled over her back pockets and yeah, those were hers. They must’ve slipped out when she went to sit down. “Thanks.” She replied, taking her smokes back into her pocket. “I just over slept was all, there’s no need to worry.” That was a lie, there was plenty to worry about when it came to Opal, but she didn’t want Bonnibel to worry so much. Especially not about someone as trivial as her. “As for everyone else, what I’m doing or where I’m at isn’t of their concern.”

Bonnibel had seen through her lie. She didn’t just  _ over sleep _ , she knew of her bad habits and her tendency to deal with her issues in unhealthy way. “Opal, what’s your damage? You know you could, like,  _ die _ from that stuff, don’t you?” Before the blonde could finish her ranting, the bell had rung for the next class. 

“Bonni, my damage is far more than you could understand.” The brunette smiled sleepily, in the way that melted hearts. Little did she know that her friend had plenty enough experience to know what Opal was talking about. They were the same in many ways. But now was biology time. Science. It wasn’t necessarily her favorite, as she had a fondness for music, but it was fun at times. Mostly because she got to share a station with Bonnibel and the others that surrounded the two girls were interesting to listen to. 

When they sat down at their lab station, Opal sighed and remembered that her shirt made her look like a mental ward escapee, but she might as well have been at this point and so she just kept it like that. Bonnibel, though, being the ever so observational friend, noticed it was off. She didn’t fix it though, she just looked at her  _ best _ friend with a quirked brow, and her expression said everything. Since Opal didn’t answer her body language, she spoke up.

“Where’d you get that shirt from?”

“Oh this?” The brunette asked, and her blonde friend nodded, arms crossed. She didn’t answer back verbally, but instead she shrugged, which made Bonni extremely exasperated.

“Audrey--!” She said in a frustrated tone, but she was interrupted by the teacher giving instructions for the assignment today. 

“Alright class, in front of you all are some slides with chloroplast samples and today I want you to count how many cells are in each sample.” The teacher instructed before sitting down at his desk to grade papers, or probably playing a crossword puzzle and putting off his responsibilities like the rest of the class. 

Opal smirked over at Bonnibel’s huffing and puffing over the fact that she wouldn’t answer her on where she’d gotten her shirt from. It didn’t take long for Bonnibel’s question to be answered because the table in front of them was having a rather strange conversation.

“My shirt, it’s missing.”

“Weren’t you wearing it this morning? How the fuck did you lose your shirt within an hour?”

“I fucked your mom in between classes and it got lost.”

“Yeah, right, Tozier.”

“Seriously though, that was my favorite shirt.”  

Then slowly, very slowly, Bonnibel’s hazel eyes inched towards Opal, and then down at her shirt. She didn’t know how to react, or how to do anything really. Except for fuss.

“Opal! That’s  _ his _ shirt!” She said in that whisper-yell voice she did so often, nudging her shoulder. Opal had her face on the microscope’s eyepiece and looked up at her when Bonnibel needed her attention.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, leaning on the palm of her hand for a minute before going back to writing her assignment. “Opal, answer me.” The blonde demanded, to which her friend began to finally speak back to her, though in a sort of bored way. No, wait, that was just her normal voice. Carry on. “Bunnybel, I’m sure he’ll get over it.” To a normal person, she would sound like she was being condescending, but to trained ears it was just how she spoke. Bonnibel’s ears turned red at that name and she clinched her fist to show just how anxious and frustrating she was getting. “But I-!”

Opal cut her off by leaning away from the lab equipment, sighing again. “Look, if you’re  _ that _ worried about the situation then I’ll just tell ‘em and if he has a problem then oh well, he’s just gonna have to get used to my bra or my new shirt.” She said. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Opal.” Bonni warned, but when does Opal ever listen to Bonnibel? A lot, actually. She’s not that bad of a friend, she still listens even though she doesn’t seem like it. She listens to every little detail… but not right now. She wanted to play around and well, not do her work. Like teacher, like students.

The shorter girl knelt on her stool and slid forward, leaning on her elbows, her friend looking away seeing as she didn’t want Opal’s ass in her face, even though it was nice. Just because she was straight didn’t mean she couldn’t have a girl crush. 

“Hey! Glasses.” He perked up but didn’t turn around. 

“Cheekbones.” His friend turned around.

“Cutie.” And now he was all ears and seemed to notice that his shirt was now on her body, and that it looked damn good. It  _ was _ Opal we’re talking about; the prettiest and coolest girl in school. The school’s new obsession.   
  


“I hope you don’t mind, I borrowed your shirt. Couldn’t go to class in just a bra, hope you don’t mind. Thanks, love.” She purred slyly, sitting back down in her chair, turning to Bonnibel with a grin.

“I can still see your bra, by the way, so stealing a shirt was pointless.”

“I still look damn good, and I have a new shirt now.”

“You didn’t even give him time to respond.” She sighed and shook her head with a grin.


	3. Nostalgia

It felt like this was the thousandth time she’d done this. The whole blackout-drunk thing, only this time she’d woken up on time, just barely coherent enough to hear the lovely tunes the birds were singing this morning, and then curse them out. You know, like a normal teenage girl did.

Opal moved to palm her eyes for a bit until she could finally see in front of her. It wasn’t much. Just her typical room, blue and cream in color with Victorian furnishing like the rest of the furniture in her house; pretty boring if you asked her. She’d much rather have Blondie posters in her room. Things like her guitar hanging on the wall, leather chairs, even a waterbed sounded fucking rad. She just wanted to be a normal teenager, but her parents didn’t allow that, as they had a reputation to upkeep. That reputation being the “Rich British People” reputation. A reputation Opal frankly found stupid. It was tradition, though, and god forbid they ruin tradition passed on from fuck knows who. Being the descendant of a nobleman wasn’t all that fun contrary to what people had told her. It sucked.

In sluggish movements, she peeled her aching body off the foot of her bed and sat up, glancing at the television set in front of her with cold eyes. She’d fallen asleep watching cartoons. It seemed her childish side hadn’t gone away like she hoped it had, but that was a given. A person can’t just delete a part of themselves that they find annoying or embarrassing, so she tried not to dwell on her more sensitive sides since she decided that showing feelings and weakness got her nowhere in life. And with that being said, no one but Bonnibel knew about her problems. Even so, she didn't know that Bonnibel knew about her problems, but the girl was smarter and more intuitive than she initially seemed.

Not that Opal expected anything less, though.

A few moments after her first waking up, she took another swig of the clear liquor bottle that had been firmly gripped by her hand as she slept. The English girl made a sour face and held the liquid in her mouth for a while, getting used to the strong taste and smell it gave off. The spirit burned her tongue and throat as it went in, but began to warm her from the inside once it settled down. All was right with the world after that, and she was ready to start her day. First by brushing her teeth to get the acidic taste left behind from her vomiting, then she needed to wash her hair to rid herself of the cigarette smoke and other things that might've gotten tangled in there. The worst of all was her body and face. She bore the same tired expression and ached all over, and she hated that feeling. Not as much as she hated her internal hurt, though. She’d take this over that hell any day of her life.

Opal strode back into her room, the shower seemingly helped her slight drunken stumble. She was sitting down in her underwear, brushing through her long, waist length coffee-brown hair while looking back at the television every now and then until her attention was fully focused on the colorful pictures flashing across the small screen. She missed being able to relax like this, not worrying about anything except for what was currently happening in these shows. By missing being able to relax, she really meant missing. When she was a child with her brother, there was never a moment of freedom in their busy little lives. There was always some ridiculous class going on such as ballet, Latin, violin, piano, or fencing. Useless and rather outdated classes that they had to take to keep up with tradition. She preferred her guitar, though. That was one thing that helped her let loose. Another was being surrounded by a bunch of kids her age, and not just her brother. She'd never admit it, but being able to see these kids almost every day was worth the boring work and lack of sleeping in. 

A sigh escaped her nose as she looked back and physically dragged herself out of her bed for the second time within an hour span this morning. Liking school meant she had to get dressed and pull herself away from her bed for more than a few minutes, which was admittedly quite hard at times, seeing as she was a teenage girl who usually drank and/or cried herself to sleep at night. Sometimes she wouldn't, though. Sometimes she and Bonnibel had sleepovers (usually at Bonni’s house) and sometimes one of the kids at school said something that made her laugh or smile. On frequent occasions she’d receive love letters slipped into the slits of her locker as well, and she found that cute, but she wouldn't admit it out loud.

One pair of high waisted shorts and a Marlboro cigarette brand shirt later, Opal was slipping on those typical 80’s tube socks, pulling her black, faded sneakers on over them before grabbing her bag. She'd forgotten it the other day, and even though it only contained a pencil, a notebook, and then the rest cigarettes and other contraband, she still wanted to have it on her, so no teachers questioned her like they were so fond of doing. She didn't blame them though; she did disrupt class rather often with her flirting and other shenanigans. 

By no means was she an easy person to deal with on a client level, and things didn’t get easier with her on a personal level, but that’s what friends were for if they were for anything at all. 

Sigh. She needed to hurry things along before she was stuck riding the bus with her stupid brother. There was no way she would be doing that, and she would avoid him at all costs at this point. Even if that meant death.

Opal, being motivated by the metaphorical fire she’d lit under her ass, grabbed her coat and hurried out of her room, down the stairs, out the foyer, and out of her house’s gates. She didn’t slow down until she was far away from her home, like she always did. Just in case her brother or her parents happened to be leaving at the same time that she was. 

As she walked, she fidgeted with her booksack in an attempt to pull her jacket onto her arms and not stop walking or put her booksack down. She couldn’t stop walking, not now.  If her brother had taken the bus or his car then he’d be close to her since, you know, cars are faster than humans. She wasn’t letting him ruin her morning, no way in hell. 

She breathed a long sigh of relief when the large building and the bustling kids around it came into her view. Finally! The poor girl felt like her legs were about to melt and turn into a big pile of gelatin puddled on the sidewalk, but she made it to the large brick building which sported the school’s signature blue and yellow colors. Not the most visually appealing, Opal thought, but school colors were never really appealing to look at. 

“Oh look, she’s on time.” Said a voice, and that voice belonged to none other than her friend, Bonnibel. The taller girl set a hand on her shoulder and smiled down at her, and Opal smiled back. “Yeah, she is. For once.” She joked, nudging her friend who was dawning jeans and a sweater, which was funny considering she never wore jeans. 

The two walked into the court yard to wait for the bell to ring, signaling them to go to class and be miserable for seven hours. Well, most of the hours. Sometimes they had fun at the cost of the teacher’s sanity and patience, but the kids didn’t care. They figured if they wanted to teach, then they needed to be able to deal with that shit. 

“So how had your little crush been treating you so far?” the brunette teased, pulling out a small carton that matched the logo on her shirt, flicking it open and sliding a clean filter in between her teeth before lighting it. Bonnibel being Bonnibel, choked a little and shook her head. “You know you aren’t supposed to be smoking, right? It’s against school rules.” Opal smirked and let smoke leak from her lips as she spoke in her soft, haunting voice. 

“Avoiding the question, I see. First of all, the teachers don’t care. Everyone does it. Second, I know you like him. He probably likes you back, too. Will is a nerd. You’re a nerd. It’ll be cute. Just go up to him and grab his ass. Boys love that.”

Bonnibel stood there, flustered. “From you maybe, but I’m not a drunken housewife in a fifteen-year-old’s body, Opal!” She yelled softly with a flail of her arms.

“So you admit that you like that Byers kid.” She smirked.

The strawberry blonde breathed in sharply as she realized she’d just fucked up. Big time. “No, that isn’t what I m-meant, I mean, if I  _ were _ to like someone, I wouldn’t be able to do that because they aren’t really the type and…” She stammered, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. It was pointless to argue since she’d practically just cornered herself, and she knew Opal wouldn’t let things like this go. Ever. 

Above mentioned Opal stood there looking smug as ever, finishing off her last cigarette while listening to her friend try to cover up her mistake. It was cute, her crush on that boy. They’d go well together and she’s voiced that many times, much to Bonni’s displeasure. 

Before she could say anything about that, though, a very poor excuse for a fake English accent came from a few yards away.

“Opal, your highness and all that shit, I need a light!” the voice called, that belonging to a boy. But not just any boy, the one whose shirt she’d stolen and still kept. They’d become acquaintances after that and spoke together more often. Of course they’d never be as close as she and Bonnibel were, though, not in their way. They were each other’s first friends and they stuck together. Even if her brother hated it. He hated Opal even talking to other people, especially boys, and so needless to say he hated Bonnibel and the other losers Opal associated herself with. He especially hated when she would flirt, though. She belonged to him in his mind, and she was his prize to keep. That’s not how things were outside of his demented mind, though. 

“Coming, cutie!” She called back, shooting her friend a look that said  _ I know your secret _ without her even saying a word. It was hard for Bonni to just sit there and not be stressed out about things because of all the self-doubt she harbored. Also it was hard for her not to faint or sweat or anything like that because the boy that had called Opal over was in the same group Will was in. they were a bunch of dorks and losers, but their people got along well. Sometimes you could catch the redheaded girl and Opal smoking in the girl’s bathroom, or even Opal and Bonni listening in on Dungeons and Dragons sessions. Different things like that which brought the groups together. 

From afar, Bonnibel looked at the group and watched Opal work her magic like usual, even though it was just her being, well, her. 

Her friend, after she’d pulled out another cigarette and the dark-haired boy did the same, she paused for a minute before taking them both from between their lips. She switched them. Probably under the guise of her wanting to try his, and he probably didn’t say anything because no one ever did when Opal was doing such things. She gently held his jaw in her hand and flicked her lighter on, the flame dancing gently in between their bodies. Opal pulled his face closer and touched the end of the paper together before lighting it and then walking away, once again leaving people stunned. 

Most of the things she did didn’t have any reason other than she wanted to. She wanted to have fun and entertain herself. That was what she said on the outside, and she wouldn’t say that she wanted more friends or to not be so lonely all the time. It was hard being around people and still being lonely no matter what. She was more than a pretty face. Didn’t people know that? She knew then how psychopaths and murderers were born out of that. Horrible parents, being used. They all deserved better.

As she approached her friend once again, she formed a weird expression. Before Opal could say something like “you know if you keep your face like that it’ll stick”, Bonnibel laughed a little. 

“I think Richie pissed his pants.” She commented, and Opal laughed like she did only when her friends were around.

“I don’t think that’s piss. I think he jizzed his jeans.” The brunette snorted lightly and her blonde counterpart laughed back after making a super disgusted face, the only words uttered out of her mouth being “Ew.”

Unfortunately for everyone the bell rang and students began filing into the building little by little because no one actually wanted to go to class in the first place. As Opal and Bonni began walking into the building, a nearby asshole decided to go ahead and grab them rather inappropriately like typical assholes did in the eighties. Once again, that was unfortunate for him because Opal still had her cigarette burning. 

The smaller girl spun around and calmly took her cigarette out of her lips, quirking her brow at the boy, or two boys. They were ugly and gross and… teenage boys. Upperclassman. If you thought that kids now are mean, kids in the eighties were treacherous. Horrible little monsters they were, and their parents didn’t care either. What better to do than to teach these two a lesson?

Bonnibel turned around with her friend to face the offenders, and by this time a crowd had formed around them, the two boys peering down at them. She looked a bit frightened but not her shorter friend. No. She refused to be one of their little games and she refused to give them any pleasure at all. 

“Right, so I suppose this is a funny situation for you. Let’s make this a little more interesting for the audience. I  _ am _ a performer after all. So let’s go.” Opal let her lips form a grin and she looked down at her cigarette. “Would’ya look at that. Seems my cigarette is at its end.” She muttered before promptly reaching out to snuff out the hot embers onto one of their shirts before letting it fall. 

They got mad like any normal person would’ve in that situation and poised their fists to punch the offending girl, cursing at her and spitting. When they lunged towards her, she kicked the first one and punched the next in the nose, making a loud crunching sound. Blood trickled from his nose and into his mouth while his friend lay on the cold linoleum flooring. People were shocked, as most would be, but some were cheering the girls on. Those being none other than the losers. 

“Come on guys, we’ll be late for class.” Opal began walking towards her class, Bonnibel walking a few steps before stopping. 

“Come on, Bons, don’t be a pus— Oh.” The principal was standing before her, a displeased look on his face. Opal’s blue eyes peered up at him, and then back at her classmates. 

“Miss Bellis, to my office. Now. Your little group, too.” He said motioning to Bonnibel and the kids who were cheering. “Everyone else, get to class!” 

Silent murmurs filled the hallway as the kids scattered away like ants with water, and the few students that were sent to the office began their way into trouble. Except for Opal. Opal stood back at that name he called her, glaring in the direction he walked. 

No one ever called her by her last name. That god forsaken name… She disowned her family, so it was a huge insult to her. Like a kick in the face.  _ No one _ . Called her Bellis. 

As she stood there in the hallway, death glaring at the office door, Bonnibel looked behind at her friend, but quickly got distracted when a certain bowl-cut kid placed his hand on her arm to ease her anxiety or whatever he thought she was feeling, and the two kept walking along with the rest of them.

Except for one.

That kid. The semi-disgusting one. The one whose shirt she’d stolen, along with a little something else of his. 

“Yo, Opes. Are you gonna come get in trouble with the rest of us?” He asked, looking back at her.

Her hand twitched and she looked over into his… glasses. No wait, his eyes were an espresso brown. His dark brown eyes. 

“Of course. It was worth it, so I’m more than happy to take the punishment. Let’s get suspended together, as a group.”

“Totally. Maybe we can do something while we’re out of school?” He asked, rubbing the back of his neck rather sheepishly, and his palms were getting abnormally sweaty at the same time. 

“Like as a group?” She asked, walking next to him, her expression softening.

Oh god, he could hear his heart in his ears right now. Why? Why did he feel so weird, and meanwhile Opal was here, calmer than ever. She was a mysterious person, but she was fun and everything else positive. At least to him and the majority of the school, but she’d only shown any mind to him which magnified those positive attributes to him. 

“No, I mean like just us. I’ll bring the condoms.” He joked. Well, half joked. This was still King Trashmouth we were talking about. 

Opal smiled and nodded, brushing his back as she passed him to get into the office. “Sounds fun. I’d love to. It’s better than staying at my parents’ house, having them screech at me the whole time. I’ll bring the lube. In the meantime, stay cute, cheekbones.”

He nodded and stood there for a minute before realizing that he needed to be in the office, too, and hauled his ass there.

If Bonnibel found out about this, she’d be sure to give Opal the same kind of teasing that she’d given her earlier. Little did they know that the boys would be having much the same conversation about how the Trashmouth was able to get the school fox and how little Will had a huge crush on that cute awkward girl, and how she appeared to return his feelings. 

Ah, these kids are a hot mess, aren’t they?


	4. Two Of A Kind

It was morning, and the sun was bright. Really, really bright. The television was also quite loud, and the lovely, bitter smell of coffee hit Opal’s nose like a train. She slowly opened her eyes and gave a glare at the familiar ceiling, but acknowledging the fact that the ceiling wasn’t hers. No, she was at her friend’s house. Her  _ best  _ friend. After the kids had gotten in trouble a day prior, she knew she couldn’t go back home without her parents screaming in her face and her probably getting severely punished because of her infraction. It was a load of shit if you asked her. A complete crock. Those boys were the ones who started things, but of course the principal wouldn’t believe a girl, let alone  _ the _ girl who did things to get her in trouble constantly. Things like smoking in the lab and setting the smoke alarms off, pulling the fire alarm to get out of class, cursing as loud as she could with other kids until the teacher said something, cutting class, and a slew of other things. Even so, it wasn’t fair.

A groan escaped her lips as she looked up from the floor and next to her was her blonde friend eating cereal and drinking coffee while the latest teen drama was on. Bonnibel always found those shows fascinating, mostly because that was what she watched before her adoptive parents allowed her to go into society. It was her only connection to the outside world. “Oh, you’re up.” She chirped, sliding over a cup to her friend. It wasn’t coffee, but tea. Opal didn’t like coffee much because she was accustomed to tea from living in London. The brunette sat up and took a long sip, thinking over a few things. One of those being that last night was one of the only nights she didn’t fall asleep drinking. She was with her friend and so there was no reason to take away any pain. Bonnibel’s presence numbed it.

“How’d you sleep?”

“I slept well. The stress of yesterday wore me out.”

“Same here, my parents are really upset that the principal wouldn’t even hear our side of the story.” Bonni frowned, looking at the tv blankly.

“I probably ruined our chances of that. With my being a bad kid and all.” Opal laughed, drinking her tea calmly. “That reminds me. Speaking of bad kids, I’m hanging out with Richie today.” She said, standing up with her cup in her hand. Her shorts were loose around her thighs and her night shirt was messily tucked in on one side. 

Bonnibel looked, shocked at her best friend, mouth slightly agape before twisting into a smirk. “Oh, so like a date.”

“I wouldn’t call it a date, really. We’re just a lot alike and so he asked if I wanted to hang on our suspension day. Well, the first one.”

“Right, so a date.”

“Whatever.”

Opal stretched her legs, walking with long strides to the bathroom to brush her teeth. She stayed over at Bonnibel’s house so much that she had her own toothbrush, clothes, and other things here, just in case she needed to stay over to avoid her parents and her brother. 

The taller of the duo walked to the bathroom as well to do much the same thing along with brushing out her hair and helping brush Opal’s long locks. “Can I help you get ready?” she asked, smiling softly. The English girl quirked a brow and looked back at her. “Get ready? For what?” “For the date!” Bonni exclaimed frantically. Honestly, Opal wanted to say she couldn’t believe this was happening, but she totally could. “One, it isn’t a date. Two, why? I don’t really wear makeup.” 

Bonnibel argued back, almost instantly. “I can help do your hair, or pick out your clothes or something… we could be like those girls on television, right?” Opal leaned back a little to rest on a wall, cracking her neck. “I mean I guess.” That made her friend overjoyed and she hopped up and down. The two went back to Bonnibel’s room, her dragging Opal rather than letting her walk. Just as she was about to go picking out clothes and makeup and such, a nearby buzz caught her attention. It was a walkie-talkie like thing and a softer boy’s voice came over it, asking if Bonni wanted to talk. Of course she took the opportunity and immediately dropped all that she was doing to take the device into another room and run her mouth. 

Opal took this as a sign that she wouldn’t be receiving help today with her appearance, which let’s be honest was for the best. She would’ve ended up putting her in some pink thing. And even though she didn’t hate pink, she’d rather have not been stuffed in a pink Sunday church dress.

With that being said, she went to picking out her clothes. Not really picking out but more pulling out things that wouldn’t look bad together. The end result was a plaid overall-like dress with a black shirt underneath. She slipped on her socks and sneakers and grabbed her purse, throwing it on the bed before throwing herself on the bed, too. Quickly, she pulled up her hair and grabbed something she decided would be better if her curly-haired friend would keep. 

Another sigh. She looked down the hallway and found her friend sprawled out on her parent’s bed, steadily talking to this boy she admired greatly. It was cute to watch. Someone close to you being in love. It made her wonder if something like that would ever happen to her. 

The brunette stood up to walk into the living room to tell Bonni she’d be outside, but just as she did, she heard a knock at the door. “That must be him.” She muttered. She peeked into the room where Bonnibel currently resided and waved at her to let her know she’d be gone for quite some time, since her parents were at work and her dog couldn’t relay any messages. 

She did remember telling Richie that she was staying at Bonnibel’s house and she gave him loose directions on where the house was. Something like “It’s in the woods at the edge of town and it’s like the only house there so you shouldn’t miss it.” Very helpful, clearly. 

Her small hand reached out and turned the knob, opening the door. The wind hit her face and made her ponytail swish around her waist along with her plaid skirt. Then her bright blue eyes fluttered open to meet a gawking preteen boy with his bike at his side. Typical teenage boy if you were to ask her, and so she didn’t think much of it. 

She carefully stepped down the stoop and closed the door behind her, holding out a rolled up black cloth to the boy. “Here, I thought you should have this before we go hang out. Think of it as you getting even with me.” Opal grinned as the boy put up the kickstand on his bike and took the thing, unrolling it in one swift motion. It was one of her shirts. A fireball brand shirt that she’d worn quite a few times. It even smelled like her. And she wanted  _ him _ of all people to have it? It seemed special to her, she’d just taken a regular old shirt from him. He had ten others like it, but this seemed special. He couldn’t let her know he was thinking hard about this, though. 

“Thanks, but if you wanted to get even I could’ve named other things that I’d much rather have.” He joked. Well, only half joked. He was grateful for the shirt but he’d rather be holding on to her panties or something like that. Teenage boys, right?

The irrational part of him thought she’d just go back inside Bonnibel’s house and not come back, but the rational part of him smiled when she began laughing and gently punched his arm. “Funny one, but you have to take me out on a date to get that kind of access to my wardrobe.”

“Wardrobe? Can’t you just say closet like normal people? Oh wait, you’re like the queen of England or something. You have to talk all fancy and shit. It’s one of the rules.”

“Totally. I’m the queen of England and I could be doing anything anywhere in the world and I’m here in Hawkins of all places.”

Richie snorted. “Yeah, I get it.” The two began walking, “But I like this town better than my old one. At least my friends from there moved here, too. I never thought that they’d be here with me, but I guess stuff happens. It seems crazy, but I guess I’ve seen crazier things.” He shivered a bit at the thought of that damned clown. That  _ thing _ haunted his dreams. Actually, his dreams weren’t even dreams anymore. He didn’t have those, except for those occasions when Opal knocked on his window, and they’d sneak out to go smoke cigarettes and talk about life. Sometimes she’d lay on the floor of his bedroom and talk to him until he fell asleep. He was happy that she’d stolen his shirt, and that they became friends. On nights like those he slept soundly. 

“Where’s your bike?”

“I don’t have one.”

“Jesus you’re weird. How are you going to get to the comic book store?”

“Uhhhh? Can’t bikes fit two people?”

That stunned him a little. He didn’t think of that option, mostly because things like that didn’t happen. Girls didn’t do that to him; they ran away from him and spoke about him behind his back. It’s not like he cared, though. His dad hated him and his mother was a drunk, kids at school also weren’t too fond of him, but he had them beat. No one could hate him more than he hated himself. 

Soon enough, he was blind and everything was a blur, besides Opal’s face since she was closer to him than she originally was, and she had his glasses. “Damn, Cheekbones, you really can’t see, can you?” She teased as she had placed his glasses on the bridge of her nose. “No shit, Sherlock.” He retorted, grabbing his eyes back from her and placing them back on his own face. She was so close. Too close for him to feel comfortable, his heart was thudding loudly and he was afraid she’d hear it. Even when she had taken his glasses, he could still see her, and he didn’t need twenty-twenty vision to see that she was stunning. 

“I did that to get your attention. Are we riding your bicycle or not?”

“I’ll let you ride  _ my _ bicycle.” He purred and Opal nudged him. “Richie, I’m serious.”

He was serious, too.

“Alright get on.” He muttered, swinging his leg over to the biker’s seat, Opal following his actions, only she gently wrapped her arms around the dark-haired boy’s waist, and seemingly his stomach from his perspective. He couldn’t breathe. But he took off. Maybe if she could feel his pulse she’d think it was from peddling and not her presence. 

Little did he know that Opal was getting a similar feeling in her chest. It felt like there were tiny bugs crawling around in there, making her heart beat a little faster, and compelling her to lean her head on his back as he peddled. It was soothing to listen to the sound of his heart and his breathing. He was warm, too. 

With all the mixed emotions littering the air, these kids were still kids. And they were still each other, too. That being said, Richie screeched to a halt, jolting Opal back to reality when she was nearly flung from her spot.

“I’m going to kill you before the day is over, T.” The girl glared and punched his arm before getting up. And out of the way of the mode-of-transportation-turned-murder-weapon. Richie snickered and parked the bike in the designated racks before walking up to the door of the comic book store. 

He pulled at the handle and motioned inside. “After you, m’lady.” He said in quite possibly the worst English accent Opal had ever heard in her life.

“Thank you, doll.” She cooed back, sashaying into the store, Richie totally not looking in front of his line of vision before walking in himself.

The two searched around the place, occasionally calling the other over to pint out an obscene comic book design or something stupid that they’d read. But eventually, they settled down in an aisle, reading a book that they’d picked out. Opal’s was geared more towards horror while Richie’s was more typical boy fare. Their legs were a tangled mess, and were blocking the narrow area badly, but they didn’t care. They were having a fun time right now, and no one could put a damper on that. 

Except for this asshole. 

“Excuse me, you two are blocking a fire exit and you need to either buy the books or leave.”

They both glared, Opal more so than anyone. That was annoying, and she didn’t even see the fire exit or anything at all. Did this store even have one? Whatever. The two kids exchanged a glance and stood up, throwing the books over their shoulders and onto the floor, brushing past the angry cashier with little less than a care in the world. 

Once they were outside of the shop, the duo burst into loud laughter at what they did, even though what they did wasn’t really that funny. Sometimes when you’re with people you like, everything seems funny. Maybe that’s what this was. 

Nahhhh, that’s stupid. They both thought the concept of such things were completely dumb and that there wasn’t a lick of truth to anything such as love. Clearly, they were both in denial. Sad, isn’t it?

“Alright, alright, let’s go. We can’t stick around here or uptight-ass’ll come out and force us to buy the sidewalk.”

“Sounds good.” He didn’t want to admit, but he was kind of disappointed that she wanted to leave early. Was that even what she meant?

“Wanna go to the arcade? I know how much you like playing videogames and stuff, so if you want we can just go there and I can watch.”

So she  _ didn’t _ mean that she wanted to leave and go back to her friend’s house. That was good to know.

He tried his best not to breathe a sigh of relief because that still meant she’d be watching him play videogames. What if he got nervous and messed up? Would she even be impressed by his mad gaming skills? What game should he play? God, girls were stressful. Having friends shouldn’t be this stressful. I mean, he didn’t care if people liked him or not typically, because he already hated himself enough. So why did he care if Opal was impressed with him or not? Why did he care so fucking much about this chick who stole his shirt? He was confused, and he didn’t know what to do with these weird feelings that he couldn’t explain and didn’t want to talk about in the first place. 

“Earth to Curly-Cue.” That familiar English accent snapped him out of his thoughts. Jesus. How many more times would he do this before the day is over? “Are you feeling alright?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Yeah I’m feeling fine. So is your mom. Ooooooh!” Yeah no this kid can’t take anything seriously for shit, but neither could Opal, so she could deal with this idiot fairly well. 

“Yeah, yeah I bet she is.” She replied, rolling her eyes. “Anyway, let’s get going. I wanna see you in action.” It took him literally every fiber of his being not to make another innuendo with what she’d just said. Fuck.

Richie led the way to the arcade, named Arcade Palace, how original, with Opal trailing behind him. She never really was able to explore the town, mostly because she was either at school or sneaking out at night into the forest. Never to town in the day time, but now was a golden opportunity to be able to look around. 

Not for long though, because it turns out nerdy places were fairly close to each other. The Arcade Palace was only a few yards away from the comic book store. 

The mop-headed boy walked in like he owned the place, and he might as well have because he spent so much damn money there, as well as his time. If his life were to flash before his eyes, half of what you’d be seeing would be a game screen. That and maybe a dirty film or two, which Opal scolded him frequently for watching.

Point being, they walked into the place and almost immediately, Richie made a beeline for the cabinet games. His female friend read along the side of the one that he was getting ready to play. “Dig-Dug?” She asked quietly, to herself more than anyone. “Yeah, I’m pretty good at this one. I’m trying to beat the high score.” She nodded. That sounded fun. She felt bad that he had to use up his money though. Rich, however, didn’t give two shits about the money he spent on games. He would’ve done it voluntarily with or without Opal having suggested them go here. In fact, if he would’ve taken Opal home early then he would’ve probably come back here and sulk for a little bit. Either way he would be playing video games today.

The distinct clatter of wasted coins going down the coin slots of the machines signaled to the brunette that her friend was starting his game off.

Opal looked over at the large fish-eye-like screen and the boy moving around spastically. Did he think that moving around would help him in the game? Well… what would she know? She never played many videogames before, and maybe it was a technique of sorts. He did claim to be pretty good at these types of things. Perhaps if she watched him close enough she would be able to get better at games? Then they’d have other things to talk about, and then he’d like her more. Wait. She didn’t care. 

She stood closer to him, her chest against his back. She rested her chin on his shoulder and her hands there as well. She wasn’t brave enough to put them on his waist or anything like that. Not a chance. So she just stood like that, watching the character he was controlling, watching the colorful pictures across the screen. It was interesting how things like this made him happy. He was so cute when he was happy.

Meanwhile, Richie was panicking. She was so close to him. Too close. Closer to him than she was when they were biking into town. Now she was so close… not just her face, but her body. The closeness felt nice, but he didn’t know how to handle these things. They scared him. They made him nervous. What if he screwed up? What were the possible ways he could screw up? He was a complete wreck internally. 

And that was when he died. Not in real life, no! The story couldn’t continue if that was the case. He died in the game, tragically enough.

He let out a long sigh and threw his head back a bit. He wasn’t even paying attention to the levels he was blasting through or the enemies there; really, he was too focused on keeping his cool near the girl holding his shoulders. 

“Hey! Rich!” She shouted, pointing at the screen.

“That was right in my—Huh?” He turned and looked at the screen, which was asking for a six-character-maximum name. He’d done it. He got the high score! He was so focused on Opal that he didn’t realize that he was blasting through the levels at an inhuman speed. 

She was like his lucky charm or something. But she probably didn’t care about his videogames and all. That was nerdy of him and he was a little embarrassed.

“I should’ve believed you when you said you were good at these things. I’m impressed, Cutie. I couldn’t do that in a million years.” She complimented, stepping away but leaving a gentle hand on his shoulder.

Okay so he was wrong about what she thought. Maybe she was lying to make him feel better about himself. 

But that wasn’t Opal. That wasn’t her thing. She didn’t lie to spare people’s feelings, it was one thing that made her herself. It was a thing many people admired about her. She was a blunt girl. A princess who had the mouth of a sailor and could kick some major ass all while remaining elegant and proper.

She was like an imperfect Barbie doll. She was everything all at once, and it was overwhelming…

But it was lovely, all the same.

“Holy shit, did I really?!” He exclaimed, excitedly turning back to the screen to type in his name. Of course, Richie being Richie, he didn’t write his name, but instead spelled out the words:

U_R_M_O_M

Classic Richie. 

“Oh my god, Richie.” Opal snorted lightly.

Richie grinned to himself. “Yeah that’s what your mom said last night.”

“Fuck off with that.” She pushed his shoulder and crossed her arms again. “Where to next?”

He looked outside the windows and squinted. “I don’t know.” Obviously, he had lost a few brain cells from staring at the videogame screen for thirty minutes straight. 

“We should totally sneak into the movies.” Opal suggested, mischief twinkling in her baby blue eyes. That was do-able. And it would be fun, too! Two delinquents doing what delinquents did; not paying for movies. It was easier than it sounded honestly.

The sun outside was bright. Much too bright. Their eyes burned and ached as they adjusted from a dark room to the open outdoors, which wasn’t fun. It hurt quite a lot. “Fuuuuuck.” Opal groaned, shielding her eyes away from the sun while Richie rubbed his from beneath his thick frames as they walked towards the direction of the movie theater. 

Like previously mentioned, nerdy places weren’t far away from other nerdy places. Well… the movies weren’t nerdy, but you get what I’m saying. 

When they got there, they walked to the back of the building to the back entrance, which was meant for employees only, really, but they obviously didn’t care about that. Opal used the same method she used for the boy’s locker room on this door. She searched her pockets for the right thing before finding it. Her pearl-handled pocketknife. She flicked the blade open quickly, causing her partner in crime to jump back a bit, but she moved it away from him and into the crack the door made with its frame. It took a while of jiggling and cursing until the door popped open and they were forcefully allowed entrance into the theater. 

Ducking into an already playing movie was really the only choice they had if they didn’t want any other employees finding them and reprehending the two teens. So, that’s what they did. They didn’t bother reading any titles or anything, or even looking at the screen when they walked into the place, but they did climb all the way to the top to sit down.

A few minutes of the movie passed and it became evident to them both that this was a horror movie. That was great in most aspects, especially for Opal considering she was a complete horror junkie. It was okay for Richie, too, until he realized that this movie was called Clownhouse and it starred the very thing that he hated. Houses. I mean clowns. The first time one appeared on the screen, he clenched the armrests on his seat tightly, his knuckles turning white like his face. He was so scared, but he wanted to stay for Opal. 

Opal, however, noticed his issue. Or the fact that there was an issue. Carefully, she slid her hand over to Richie’s and intertwined their fingers together. He squeezed her hand and looked at her from the corner of his eye. He looked terrified, and she wasn’t about to make him suffer through this. She wasn’t that kind of person. 

The shorter, much smaller girl grabbed him and gently hoisted him out of his seat by pulling and led him out of the theater and into a metaphorical safe space; away from those damned clowns. Turns out that they both had some type of post-traumatic stress in their lives, whether it be something much too real or something that they wished wasn’t real, they had that in common as well.

“Are you alright?” Opal asked softly, still holding onto her friend’s hand. He looked like he was going to be sick, and yeah, a nearby trashcan did the job, but not after some vomit splattered onto his shirt. 

“I’m fucking fantastic, why do you ask?” He replied, obvious sarcasm in his voice. 

Opal simply smiled and shook her head. “Well, I’m glad I brought this with me.” She didn’t want to laugh. She didn’t want him to think she was mocking him or being mean. She didn’t know he was so afraid of clowns, but she supposed everyone had their fears and such. Little did she know that it wasn’t just the fright the clowns had given him that stirred up his stomach, but it was his nerves from her presence as well. He was so, so nervous. This was his first time doing anything like this and so he didn’t quite know what to do or say, and he just got a bit too overwhelmed was all. 

The girl reached in her bag and pulled out the shirt that she’d given him when he first came to pick her up. He didn’t have anywhere to put it, so she kept it with her and honestly thank god she did. “I want you to go in the bathroom and change shirts. Rinse your mouth out, too, and putting cold water on your face would probably help. I’ll be waiting here when you’re done.” She reassured, handing the old, worn, but sweet-smelling shirt to Richie, who couldn’t do anything but nod and walk into the boy’s bathroom. He didn’t have the energy to do much else.

When he walked in, Opal leaned on the wall next to the bathroom door and waited patiently, occasionally glaring if she saw any other bad kids who’d skipped school to come here. Their situation was different. They weren’t  _ skipping _ school, rather they were kicked out of school for a few days because Opal had beat two kids up and the others were laughing, and therefor they were considered accomplices. 

It was stupid if you asked her. She was the one who did all the damage, and she wasn’t even the one who started it! It was those stupid boys and their sexist ways. Their parents probably didn’t care about what they were doing, either. That’s the eighties for you. The only explanation she could come up with as to why those boys didn’t get in trouble was that the school system was corrupted, and those boys were related to someone in power. Small towns always had stupid shit like that festering underneath the surface. 

It was disgusting.

Opal looked over when she heard the bathroom door creak open, and out came a better-looking-than-before Richie. He looked less ill, which was fantastic. She couldn’t have her friend/mode of transportation being all sick and stuff, that wouldn’t be very conventional. 

The shirt she’d given him looked nice as well. It fit him better than her, actually. It looked good. Mostly because it wasn’t way too big on him, it fit perfectly. He liked the shirt, too. It was soft and it smelled sweet and it reminded him of her, and it would continue to remind him of this day specifically for a very long time. He kind of didn’t want to wash it, but he’d have to. Maybe it would still have her scent on it even after Mike’s mom washed it? Hopefully. 

“Thanks…” He muttered, throwing his soiled shirt in a nearby trashcan; the same one he had vomited in. 

“It’s not a problem, really. I stole your shirt and now you get to have mine. And I mean you’re my ride home, so I can’t have you vomiting all day.” Opal joked, kicking herself up off the wall, walking next to him in the direction of the movie’s exit. They  _ were _ walking. And then they were sprinting because someone noticed that he hadn’t seen these kids today, and so they probably snuck in. It was that whole grumpy dude shaking his fist at a couple of rotten teenagers moment, and it was beautiful. 

As soon as they reached far enough to no be caught or chased after, they hunched over, hot breath escaping their lips in the form of panting and laughter, their hands on their knees as they tried to catch up to their breath. These were the good times, just two friends hanging out, laughing.

These were the highlights of their shitty lives. This made going home to horrible, abusive parents worth it in a sense. Just to have these moments.

When Opal had arrived in the little town of Hawkins, Indiana a year or so ago, she hated this place, and she hated the people. She wanted to move back to London more than anything in the world, and she just wanted to get away. But now, she’s so happy that her family got the expansion opportunity here. She couldn’t have asked for a better blessing in disguise. Friends. Love. What seemed to actually be happiness…?

“Oh my god that was so fucking close.”

“That old guy didn’t stand a chance, he probably has aids in his legs or something.”

“It also didn’t help that you were screaming insults to him about his mother, Richie.” 

“I  _ had _ to, come on. They were funny. And he didn’t catch us.”

“We probably won’t be able to show our faces at that movie theater ever again.” She laughed, walking beside him.

“Oh well, it was kinda worth it.”

“It was an experience that’s for sure.”

Richie would agree on that. He would’ve said he had a good time, but he knew she would question him. Normally puking your guts up isn’t a good time unless you’re bulimic, but he felt like it brought them closer and all even if he nearly shit his pants at the movies. God, he hated these sappy inner monologues, it made him feel like… he wasn’t strong enough or something to that effect. Feelings were weird. 

The two slowly walked closer to each other as the night grew darker and colder. Summer nights were always cold, but they were the best for warm hearts. Opal noticed that they passed by a roller skating rink, and she smiled to herself. She didn’t know how to roller skate and the thought of her and Richie doing that together made her feel warm on the inside, just imagining her clinging to his arms for dear life. It would be funny, and it just felt right to her in a sense. 

The petite girl shivered slightly as a breeze came by, sweeping the leaves on the side walk away as if a ghost was out cleaning the front of his store. The much taller male noticed she was shivering and she looked cold. She didn’t look like she had enough on her bones to keep her body warm, which worried him relentlessly. He noticed that she didn’t eat much and he kind of blamed himself for it like he did with everything. He hated that he worried so much about some random girl, he almost couldn’t stand it. Why did he have to  _ care _ ?

It took nearly everything in him to not put his arm around her narrow shoulders and pull her in close, like they did in the movies. But he wasn’t like that. He couldn’t just do something so out of character, so romantic. 

She’d probably push him away anyway, and she’d hate him forever and run away from him, and he would go home and beat himself up about how he fucked up one of the best things he’s ever had. He couldn’t, but god did he want to. He wanted to hug her, too, and tell her how much she meant to him. Tell her how beautiful she was and how well she was at guitar and how fucking cool she was. He wanted to let her know that she mattered, especially to him. But girls didn’t like Richie. And in his head, that meant Opal, too. Things would never work out that way.

He could dream, though. God could he dream.

Before he knew it, they were where they had started in town, at the bike rack next to the comic book store. The store was now nearing closing time, and it was inevitable that Opal had to go back home. Bonnibel’s parents would be expecting her. Then what would  _ he _ do? Awkwardly go back home only to be yelled at by his father for coming home so late while his mother is blackout drunk on the couch? Or would he sneak in through his window and pretend like he’d been there the whole time asleep for his dad to still scold him for being lazy and not studying enough. Either way his amazing day would turn to shit real quick. But that was okay, because he deserved it, right? Not to Opal he didn’t. They knew of each other’s troubles and such, they ranted and raved about it all the time while they were smoking or something, and they knew the gory details. It was sad, but true.

Without a single word uttered, both kids climbed onto the bike and rode off into the night, cool air whipping around their hair, nipping at their cheeks. This ride around, Opal didn’t hesitate to lean her head against his back, thinking of nothing at all for the first time in a while. She was at peace. Quiet, solemn peace. The lights were all a blur as she opened and closed her eyes to look at the town in a familiar light, the light she was used to seeing day after day. The kind she was comfortable with.

And then trees.

The bike slowed down all too fast for them both as they were dreading leaving one another. They didn’t want to be alone, yet they did at the same time. They could be alone together, and that’s the best life could get. Just the two of them, having days like this for the rest of their lives. The laughter, the thrill, the cool air. They wished they could be young forever, but that was a dream and only a dream. Immortality wasn’t real and yet killer clowns and grotesque aliens were. It was ridiculous.

Opal stepped off the bike and trudged over to Bonnibel’s front door, leaning into the frame while looking down at the ground. She didn’t want to leave and neither did Richie. He pulled out the kickstand of his bike and slowly walked over to the short girl.

“Well…I guess this is bye for now?” He asked, looking at her every few half seconds, but never more than a second.

“No, don’t say that. I hate goodbyes. That’s what you say to people before they die.”

She was right, but what did she want him to say exactly? All he really knew were goodbyes as sad as it sounds. He didn’t know what else to say but he didn’t want to just walk away and leave her without nothing. That wasn’t good either.

“Then what am I supposed to say you fucking weirdo?”

Opal giggled but stifled it with the back of her hand. Even in this serious moment, he still managed to make her laugh. He was amazing honestly, and she was so glad she found him.

“I had a fantastic time tonight, we should do it again.”

“Really? I mean, yeah of course you did I’m kind of amazing at picking up chicks and all.” He rubbed the back of his neck in mock cockiness. At least his trying to lighten the mood worked.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” She grinned, placing her hand on the cold metal knob of the Moreau residence. But she quickly retracted it and looked up from the ground and into the glare on Richie’s glasses. “I’m really glad you asked me to hang out.” Opal laughed bashfully, taking a few steps forward.

He was panicking right now but he couldn’t force himself to do anything, he just let it happen. It needed to happen, the tension with these two was crazy.

Opal’s soft lips planted a gentle kiss on his cheek, making them heat up instantly as if he was suddenly struck with fire, but the good kind if that was a thing. When she stepped away, his hand shot up to hold his cheek, a tingling sensation taking over the area where her lips touched, spreading outward like a plague of her touch. She was a sickness and it couldn’t be helped. 

His breath hitched in his throat as he desperately tried to find something,  _ anything _ , to say to this girl. But she waved him off as his lips parted to speak.

“I’ll see you back at school. Have a good one, Tozier.” She smiled softly, walking inside and shutting the door behind her.

Against either sides of the door, there was a girl leaning against it, clutching her chest and a boy standing next to his bike, mouth agape. 

He knew she’d stolen his shirt, and he didn’t care about that. Like he said, he had a ton of those shirts, it didn’t matter to him. But she took something else along with that.

_ His heart _ . 


	5. Silver Lining

The noisy bustle of people exiting a theater filled the little area outside, sun pouring out onto the hot concrete. It was still summer, and frankly it was taking too long to pass. Why couldn’t winter be here sooner? The cold was so much better than the heat. If you were too cold, you could just put on more clothes. If you’re too hot, then what? You rip off your skin? Not today, Satan. 

Amongst the crowd of people, there were two girls, one distinctly taller than the other, the shorter one stretching her back out while people filed out the doors.

“You think people got annoyed when we sang along?”

“It’s the  _ Rocky Horror Picture Show _ , what did they expect?” The shorter one shrugged. “If they weren’t ready for singing and dancing then they should’ve stayed home and died.”

The taller girl looked down at her shorter counterpart in disbelief. Well, not quite disbelief but more of a “holy shit you just said that” expression. 

“Opal, that’s horrible, you shouldn’t say that.” The blonde scolded, crossing her arms at her friend, who laughed and rolled her eyes like she usually did at her friend’s fussing. 

“Oh Bonni, don’t be so uptight. Now let’s go get ice cream or something. It’s hot as hell out here and my fucking vagina is sweating.” Bonnibel wanted to argue back because her friend had said something else utterly awful, but she couldn’t just keep correcting her because it would egg her on even more. 

As for eating ice cream, it surprised her that Opal would suggest to go eat something, even ice cream or fries or any junk food. Opal didn’t eat, it was just a thing that had been the way it was for years and it worried her and her other friends relentlessly. They wished they could do something to make her eat, but maybe this was the day? 

Maybe now she would learn to be healthy in ways that didn’t involve starving herself for days on end with only alcohol and cigarettes to keep her from being hospitalized. 

Bonnibel would be so happy to know that her best friend was finally taking care of herself. Her best friend, and her first friend. She loved her so much and she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if her friend got hurt, or worse, died. She would just die. So would the rest of the crew. Opal would be permanently gone, there was no bringing her back to life, there was no finding her in an alternate dimension, nothing. She would be gone forever. 

Even when she stayed over, she didn’t eat and Bonni’s parents would worry, too. 

But right now, they were on their way to a nearby ice cream parlor slash diner, and hopefully she would eat something along with Bonnibel. If she didn’t, then she would have to force feed her.

As the two arrived into the shop, the cool air making their limbs awkwardly clammy from sweating outside, they immediately headed for the biggest open booth available, even if Opal had to frighten someone away for the spot. When they sat down, they felt the skin on their thighs stick to the vinyl fabric. It was uncomfortable, and that was an understatement, but it cooled them down well enough.

Bonnibel immediately grabbed for the menu and leaned over her side of the table so her friend could see as well, mostly because she hoped to convince her to eat something that wasn’t alcohol. Wait. That was a beverage, not a food, but whatever. 

“Ooooooh, they have cereal milkshakes.” Bonni gasped, her eyes lighting up at cereal, which she had come quite fond of since the start of school, particularly fruity pebbles, obviously she has good taste. Opal quirked a brow and laughed. “You know that cereal is basically just wooden pencil shavings, right?”

“Well they’re really good for lead coated wood. Speaking of, I’m pretty sure I would’ve already died by now.” Bonni grinned, “Which flavor looks good to you?” She asked, hoping to god or whoever was up there that she actually answered, or replied some way that wasn’t a meek shrug.

Opal scanned over the ice cream flavors and surprisingly pointed to one, her baby blue eyes widening in awe. “Actually, this one sounds pretty damn good. Blue moon? It’s light blue and it’s cool looking.” She commented, looking over at a laughing Bonnibel. “What?” She asked quizzically. 

“Blue moon is cereal flavored, Opes.” 

Opal paused and sat down, looking down at her shorts… overalls. Shoveralls? Her dark blue and white Adidas shirt peeked through and she kind of glared. Right, so maybe cereal wasn’t that bad, but she liked picking on Bonnibel. She was cute when she was flustered, but right now she could’ve said the same thing about Opal.

The brunette pulled her legs up and fixed her socks while looking at her best friend, her dark hair falling over in her face while the girl opposite of her had the biggest grin imaginable. Before she could shoot back a snarky remark for once, a waitress came over, her dress unbuttoned a bit to show her full chest. She poised her hand into a writing position with her pen daintily held in place, a sweet smile on her face. She was rather pale, but so were the two teens, so they couldn’t say anything. But she was beautiful, too, and even spoke with a thick Romanian accent, but not so thick that they couldn’t understand her. 

“Hi! I’m Marjorie, what can I get you two cuties?” She asked cheerfully.

Opal almost felt like she knew this lady already, but she knew better. “My friend wants a cereal milkshake, and I want a blue moon one. Also a really massive order of fries would be cool too.” The way Opal ordered wasn’t like a typical person would, but then again, she wasn’t very typical herself. To be frank, though, Bonnibel wasn’t worried about how brash she was with ordering, but that she not only ordered a milkshake, but actual food as well. She was so overjoyed, but she couldn’t show it in fear of her friend picking up on her excitement. She would find it weird and embarrassing and she probably wouldn’t eat in front of her again, if at all. 

The waitress, Marjorie, nodded and wrote everything down in pretty handwriting. “Gotcha, it’ll be right out.” She turned and winked, sashaying back behind the counter, clipping the order onto the designated line.

“Wow, she’s cute.” Opal muttered, leaning on her palm before moving her eyes back to Bonnibel.

“Don’t you already have Richie, though?” She asked, running a hand through her short, rose blonde hair, much to the annoyance of her shorter friend. 

She hated when she brought up the fact that she and him had spent time together yesterday, and she hated how she knew that everyone at school would find out eventually and they would endlessly tease her. It was a blessing that she didn’t know that Bonnibel had been snooping while Richie was dropping her off. She’d seen the cheek kiss, and she told Will, who probably told his friends or something. It would be even worse if they were all on a group walkie-talkie session together and everyone heard. That would be the end of Opal, but the beginning of Richie. Getting with the popular girls, aye? He was moving up in the world, only not really because Opal was  _ just as much _ of a loser as Richie was, believe it or not.

When the waitress said that the food would be out shortly, she wasn’t lying. I suppose milkshakes and fries wouldn’t take that long at all, but it was surprising at the speed that the food came out. It came out fast enough to where she was cut off with preparing an argument on her and Richie not being an item, no matter what had happened the previous night. 

The waitress with her pink locks, leaned over and placed the milkshakes and fries onto the table, still smiling. “There you go! I’ll leave the check with you ladies, enjoy yourselves!” She waved back at the two, placing the bill onto the table. Opal went to grab in and study it for a minute. “Six dollars even. I’ll pay.” She said, taking out the credit card she’d stolen from her parents. She didn’t worry about them shutting it off, they had too many to know which one was being used by her. Before she could place the plastic onto the table, Bonnibel slid a ten-dollar bill over, shaking her head. “No, I’ll pay. You always pay for everything and it’s my turn this time.” She said sternly, making Opal withdraw her hand and sink down into her seat, a squeaking sound being made as she did so.

Bonnibel was the first to grab her drink and begin drinking, occasionally eating the fries, but she didn’t break her friend’s gaze. “You gonna drink that weird blue stuff?” She asked, swallowing.

“Smurf jizz?”

“Yeah, whatever.” Bonni rolled her eyes and cringed lightly. Why’d her friend have to be so gross?

Opal sat up again and looked at the food before her. Her milkshake and those fries. She hadn’t eaten real food, what could even be considered a full meal, even if this wasn’t even close to what one would consider a full meal. It would fuck her stomach up, and she really didn’t want to do it… But if it made Bonnibel happy, so be it. 

She leaned over and grabbed the cold, condensating glass with her small hands, her blue painted nails clinking against it. She took a big sip, and it was almost worse than her drinking alcohol. She was used to that by now, but she had to get used to the coldness in her mouth, but she swallowed and felt the cold travel to the empty pit of her stomach. She shivered at the feeling, but savored the sweet, almost fruit-like taste on her tongue. Before she knew it, she was sipping on it in long bursts, taking fries and dipping them into the thick drink. It wasn’t something that Bonnibel typically would’ve done, but she tried it under her command. Anything to make her best friend happy. And surprisingly, it was really good. Sweet and salty, cold and hot, sugar and spice. The shit was good.

They spent the next hour dipping their fries and slurping their shakes, talking about everything and nothing at all. It was a good time and a type of thing they didn’t get to do together as often as they like. Opal wished that would change. She wished that her family would just…go away. 

The two girls got up and stretched, still giggling on about stupid jokes and puns and what school would be like when they returned on Monday, even if it was only a few days they missed. It felt like the world had just stopped for the few days they were out and they were the only kids living in it. It was a strange, surreal feeling, but it was nice to feel like you and your best friend were the only ones on earth for a few hours. 

Opal and Bonnibel walked a few blocks until they were met with the thick overgrowth of the forest, and then Bonnibel’s house underneath all of that.

It was slightly dark outside with the sun having begun its retire for the night, and so Opal found it strange that Bonni’s parents’ cars were there already, usually they got home a bit later than this, but she brushed it off as something coming up or them being let out of work early. That did happen sometimes, after all. 

The girls walked in, Bonnibel less wiry than Opal, and it was visible on their faces how they felt. The blonde didn’t really see any threats while the brunette was rather confused. Why were the Moreaus home so early? Something was fishy and felt weird in her stomach. Then again maybe that was just because of her eating something for the first time in forever.

It was quiet. Eerily quiet in the little house, usually there would be some kind of noise, whether it be the tacking of the computer keys in his office or the distant sound of a radio while she sipped on white wine worked on her growing garden. But no, it was quiet. 

“Is anyone here? I mean your mom and your dad are home, right? I saw their cars outside.” Opal commented, walking towards Bonnibel’s room with said girl in tow. When she opened the door to her friend’s room, though, it became apparent that there was a new door on the wall that stood between her dad’s office and her bedroom. The brunette quirked a brow and made a quizzical sound, walking to the door. This was weird. It was like the other losers had said, this town was not normal. Where did this door come from? She didn’t know.

Bonnibel urged Opal to open the door with her eyes. She obeyed and placed her small hand on the cold knob, turning it and throwing the thing open. Instead of seeing a dead body or something gruesome, she looked upon Bonnibel’s parents smiling widely in… what wasn’t an office anymore, but a room. The room had all of her old stuff in it, too. 

“What’s going on? Bonni?” She asked, turning around only to see Bonnibel smiling as well, hopping up and down on her feet like an excited child. 

Bonnibel’s mom, Linda, spoke, walking over to Opal. A heavy herbal scent surrounded her as well as her soothing aura and voice. She placed a hand on her shoulder and leaned down a bit to look at her a bit better, her green eyes hinting tones of sadness but joy and hope all at the same time. “Sweetheart, there’s no real way to say this, but your parents and your brother moved back to London. They didn’t give an explanation, they just dropped off your clothes and left a note this morning while you two were still asleep. They thought it was best that you stay here with us.” She explained. So, in a nice way, it was telling her that her parents didn’t want her and they dumped her with a random family while she was away. Everything was so much, it was all crushing in on her. She wanted to be sad but…she just  _ couldn’t _ . She wasn’t sad, she was happy that they were gone and out of her life, but that meant that Bonnibel’s parents would be stuck with her and she didn’t want to torture them with that. She was a bad kid, a nuisance. They didn’t deserve to be burdened with her presence. 

“Guys, you don’t have to do this…” The short teen said lightly. Looking down and around the room.

“Nonsense, we’d be happy to have you! We would be lying if we said we hadn’t thought about adopting you before. You would fit right in, you’re already like family here, Opal.” Bonni’s father, James, said with a kind smile. 

The whole family was so nice to do this. James gave up his office just to give her a room to stay in after her parents kicked her out. It was overwhelming to Opal, so much so that for the first time in years, hot tears streamed down her cheeks, and her whole body shook with the weight of this situation. She couldn’t get another word out before she was surrounded with warmth and a tangle of limbs. 

This was it. 

This was what genuine love felt like. For the first time, she felt alive and not empty and hollow. 

She had a true family now.


	6. Quiet and Violent

“Girls, it’s time to wake up! Breakfast is on the counter.” A sweet, motherly voice called from the doorway of two joined rooms. A few groans escaped the air as their owners had spent all the night previous awake and talking about their future and feelings about the new living situation. The door conjoining the two rooms had been open and they had fallen asleep that way, a hard transition from light peach to a baby blue. 

The teens stretched and arose from their beds and Opal came into Bonnibel’s room, her hair tied back and her shorts hanging loosely around her hips. She waited for her friend, or house-mate now. Eventually she had to pretty much drag her out of bed to get her to get the hell up so they could go eat and get ready for school. Their first day of school back since suspension, in fact. It made them feel a bit nervous. What all happened in the days that they were gone? Was it anything important? If Opal missed a day of school, she felt like she missed a year, so she tried not to. That and the fact that she didn’t want to stay in the house with her parents helped with her going to school on a good attendance rate.

The girls sat down at the small round table that they had their meals at frequently. This time, they had waffles for breakfast, and not the frozen Eggo kind but the homemade sweet kind with whipped cream and strawberries. They were Bonni’s favorite and so Linda thought it would be appropriate to make them on their first days back to school. What you eat for breakfast mirrors how well your day goes, at least to Linda, and so she wanted their day to go well, like a loving mother should. Unfortunately, when they finally dragged their asses out of their rooms, their guardians were gone off to work and like always they took the dog with them. Fittingly enough, Linda had her own green nursery and James did the finances. Peanut, the family dog, was there to entertain restless kids who didn’t like waiting around for their parents to finish picking out plants. Bonnibel and Opal planned on working there once they graduated, and hopefully the store would add on. Gardening and dealing with customers wasn’t really Opal’s things, though, she liked music and liquor and smoking, but she figured that would be more fun than working somewhere where she didn’t know anyone. 

              Bonnibel sat up straight and ate the food her mother had left out for them while her new adoptive sister (at least that’s how she saw it) slouched down and pulled her legs up to her chest to pick around at her food and only eat a little, but at least she ate. Even if it was only a bit, Bonnibel still was thankful for that. 

 

While they were brushing their teeth and getting dressed, they chatted about different things dealing with school, mostly Bonnibel worrying and Opal, well, not worrying at all.

“You think we missed a lot of work?”

“Probably.”

“How are we going to make it up?”

“We don’t.”

 “That doesn’t make me feel better, Opal.” Bonni sighed, pulling on her shirt, tucking them into her jeans like the big nerd she was. 

“It wasn’t really supposed to make you feel better, Bons.” She muttered, buttoning up her shirt, also tucking those into her shorts. She didn’t look like that much of a nerd in her clothes, though, her shirt was Hawaiian while Bonni’s was striped. What a nerd. 

“Ugh.” The blonde rolled her eyes and slipped on her shoes while her sister did the same thing. Sister in her eyes, that was. “Anyway, moving on, we need to get you a bike or something.” She mentioned, grabbing her bag, throwing it messily over her shoulder.

Opal grabbed her own bag and smirked a bit, placing a hand in her pocket whilst she walked towards the door with Bonnibel. “Even if I did get a bike or something it would kind of be pointless. I have no clue how to ride a bike or anything. I was used to being driven places or walking in London, and here for a matter of fact. I usually just walk to school.”

That fact just proved how utterly different the two had grown up. Bonni’s family didn’t have terribly high income but they were tight knit and cared very much about one another, Opal on the other hand had a cold, affluent family. No feelings were ever discussed, and they ate at their dining room table in weighted silence. Not anymore, though. Finally, she had a loving home to enter every day. Her normal clothes were there and some of her furniture and knick-knacks were also moved into her new room the day she came home with Bonnibel. She just still felt so bad that they had to accommodate just for her; a child they didn’t ask for. Some kid that was just dumped on them. Opal thought they were too nice. They could’ve just sent her to a foster home or something and she would’ve been fine, but instead they took her in as one of their own in her time of need, just as they did Bonni. They were truly kind people and she couldn’t have asked for a more perfect adoptive family. 

“I guess we can walk today then. Besides, I heard some type of moving thing going on yesterday while we were inside, it was really noisy.” Bonni commented after locking the door. When they walked to school, it was usually them idly talking and looking at the leaves, which were now beginning to fall and crunch beneath their feet. It was almost autumn, and then after that was winter, Opal’s favorite season ever.

“Really?” Opal asked, focusing her gaze on a particular red leaf that had just fallen from a branch. The sun caught her icy blue eyes while she stared at the fluttering leaf, slowly making its way to the ground like the rest of its kind already had. “No one ever really moves here, unless they’re moving from a different house in town. But still, it’s the middle of the woods. Your parents,” She was interrupted.

“ _ Our _ parents.”

“ _ Your _ parents,” Opal sighed, rolling her eyes. She would’ve loved to call Linda and James her mother and father, but she just couldn’t. It was too strange to do right away. “Were justified with picking this place to live. Your mum loves gardening and so it would make sense for her to move into a forested area. Someone else, though, I’m not sure about. Unless they like gardens as well.” She doubted that, though. Bonnibel’s parents were weirdos and so it was normal for them to move to a weird place in the outskirts of town. Did buses even run here? She didn’t know.

Eventually the duo reached Hawkins High where classes were about to start, so they had to haul ass into homeroom only for the bell for first period to ring immediately after. Such was the life of high school freshmen, right?

First hour was English, which Opal wasn’t too fond of seeing as she already knew English and used better grammar than native citizens used. Then again Americans and English people spoke the same language, but some acted like it wasn’t their first, much to the annoyance of the girl. 

The teacher going on and on about the process of writing didn’t help. Why couldn’t she just write like a normal person without all these drafts and such? It was stupid if you asked her, which motivated her to do what she was best at. While the teacher’s back was turned against the chalkboard, Opal stood up from her desk and just walked out of the classroom with her bag over her shoulder. The hallways were empty and quiet, much like the woods this morning. It was peaceful and she appreciated the fact that she could get some alone time, even at the cost of her getting in trouble. It didn’t matter at this point, she always got in trouble. People would always tell her to stay out of trouble, and no matter who it was, she would reply with “Trouble has a hard time staying out of  _ me _ ”, like always. 

The light outside was bright as usual, and it gleamed off of her espresso brown hair, making it hot and slightly uncomfortable. She hated the sun anyway, so typically she sat in the shade away from the school. There was a giant log that sat in the woods outside of the school, and that’s where she liked to smoke and drink and do anything that didn’t involve school. Sometimes she would bring Richie out there with her, and sometimes she would try to convince Bonnibel to come with her, but she was too much of a good kid to skip class with Opal. 

Whenever she had begun to approach her little hiding spot, it became clear that there was already another person there, on her log. The person, who she was sure was male, was kind of slumped over, every now and then taking a long swig out of a bottle. It was strange, she hadn’t seen anyone like him around. Not in class or in the hallways. 

Slowly she walked up behind the log and the man on it. It seemed he was too wrapped up in what was in that bottle to hear her approaching from behind. It was confusing. Did he not hear her, or did he just not care? The sound of the leaves crunching under her feet was rather loud and it was quiet outside, so why wouldn’t he turn around. Upon further inspection, the bottle turned out to be a liquor bottle, in which half of the drink was gone already. She lifted a leg up and kicked it over the side of the log, following after the other and sitting down next to the boy. He was blonde and wore thick glasses, much like her friend Richie. His eyes were blue yet held a darkness to them. A piercing icy blue. He had a briefcase on the other side of him and he wore a button up shirt and jeans, as well as an olive-green jacket over everything. He was cute, too. 

“You drank all of that straight?” Opal asked, taking out her pack of cigarettes and a lighter. 

The blonde male turned to her for a half a second before looking back down at the ground. He seemed surprised that anyone was talking to him, or that anyone was out here. He hesitated for a few seconds before answering. “Yeah, I did.” He answered. He didn’t say much, Opal noticed. She didn’t mind, though, she figured he probably thought she was a bully or something and wanted to keep to himself until she proved herself to be trusted. She understood that.

Opal nodded. “Impressive.” She said, taking a cigarette in between her lips, lighting it and blowing the smoke out of her nose. “Are you new here? I haven’t seen you around school. Then again, I just got back from being suspended for a few days.” She laughed sheepishly before turning to him. He nodded at her question. The brunette didn’t want to make him feel too uncomfortable by asking too many questions, and she knew how hard it was moving to a new place. 

“Well, I’m Opal Audrey. I’m a freshman. I moved here last year with my family for a business opportunity or whatever from London, so I guess you could say I’m kind of new as well. So, what’s your name?”

“Jeffrey. Dahmer.” He replied, turning to her. The smell of her cigarettes reminded him of his mother, and he wasn’t quite sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. “I’m a junior.” He liked her accent, though. It was different.

“It’s nice to meet you, Jeffrey.” She said calmly, inhaling smoke into her lungs until she felt it burning. “Can I have a sip of that? I don’t care what it is, but I’m having a hard time right about now.” Opal asked softly with a half-smile. She hoped to god she wasn’t making him uncomfortable or anything, she’d feel so bad… but she wanted this guy to trust her. He didn’t seem like he had any friends yet and he seemed like a bit of an outcast, like her and her group. She could always use more weirdos and freaks like her to hang out with. 

Once again, there was hesitation, but he held the bottle out to her and she gladly wrapped her hand around the bottle, and his, taking a drink of the bitter liquid before letting go. Jeff was curious. Why did she need alcohol? She looked so innocent but here she was, smoking, drinking, and cutting class. This girl was weird. “W-what are you having a hard time with?” He stammered, looking away. He didn’t bother taking another sip of his drink, he wasn’t really comfortable with drinking in front of other people just yet. 

“Oh,” Opal breathed out a large cloud of smoke and leaned her head back, closing her eyes, “Where do I even begin?” She couldn’t believe she was about to spill everything out to some stranger she’d just met only seconds ago. Once she had begun speaking about her life, she couldn’t stop pouring out to this guy. She hadn’t told anyone about all of her problems except for Richie, who she’d known for a while now. This was a person she  _ just met _ , but he was listening to her problems, and he seemed genuinely sorry for her and empathetic despite his expression never changing from the same stoic one he’d held the whole time she was here. When she’d finished her story, he began on his and how his family was crumbling apart and so they moved here, as if that would just magically fix things. He was aware it wouldn’t and it was only a matter of time until everything just fell out of place, including him. He spoke about his interest in the anatomy of living creatures and how he would dissolve roadkill and study everything, which Opal actually took interest in as well. Studying witchcraft went hand-in-hand with skeletons and grotesque things of that nature. When she showed interest in this, he fully opened up. He didn’t know that there were other people like him, well, in one aspect. She wasn’t afraid of the strange or gross, she found comfort in darkness. 

They were a lot alike.

“So, you…How do I put this?” Came Opal’s voice. She was trying to comfort Jeffrey on a subject, a sensitive one at that. “You’re confused with your sexuality?” The girl asked, quirking a brow. Essentially, that’s what it sounded like, and that’s what it was. “That’s completely normal, at least I think it is. I don’t think we, as teenagers, are one-hundred percent sure on anything, really. I was confused a few years ago, too, and then I decided that I didn’t have to choose between what I liked and stuff. I’ve dated boys, and I’ve dated girls, and everything in between. As for kinks, no matter how obscure they may seem, there are always people that share the same thoughts with you.”

It came as a surprise to Jeff that she said there were others like him, others that shared the deep, dark, extremely twisted things that he thought alone. It had only gotten worse over time, and the alcohol made the daydreams and fantasies so much worse. He didn’t even tell her about that yet, but he felt like he should. She was like a psychologist at this point. The more he said about his life and what he thought, the better he felt inside, and the more he felt he could trust her. 

“I…” He began, looking down. It was too hard to tell her these things while looking at her face. He was embarrassed and utterly uncomfortable to speaking about his feelings. It was just how his family was. Their feelings were hush-hush and no one ever asked any questions or questioned anything in general, especially not anything dealing with intimacy. “I keep having fantasies of me picking up a hitch-hiker and killing him and I…I do  _ stuff _ with his body, I don’t know what to do, I just want them to stop. I want to be normal, I don’t want to do anything I’ll regret but I just have the  _ urge _ to do it. And I can’t talk to anyone about it because who thinks things like this? I understand if you want to run away. I want to run away from myself all the time. I just wonder if there was anything I could’ve done different to prevent these things from happening.” By this time, he was crying frustrated, disgusted tears. He was so disgusted with himself and he just wanted to die, he wanted these fantasies to just stop. He just wanted to be a normal kid. Go into real-estate or something, not be bogged down by this fucked up shit. 

Being killed would’ve been a blessing at this point.

He fucked up telling her all of this. This girl he just met a few hours ago, she could go and tell everyone and he would be known as a bigger freak than he already was. It was sad, really. He just started attending this school and already people deemed him a weirdo. And he was, considering all that he’d just said. He was used to not having many friends, so if he scared this girl off as well, it didn’t matter. He could handle himself. But then he felt a gentle touch on his shoulder. It was a nervous touch, due to the fact that Opal didn’t know what to do, but she felt like offering a comforting touch would help, but she was scared he wouldn’t like that. She couldn’t read him on how he dealt with being comforted and what she should’ve done, so Opal just did what she would’ve wanted.

“Hey.” She said softly, patting his back as tears wracked his shaking figure. “That is quite strange admittedly, but that’s alright. Obviously it isn’t good to think those things and you shouldn’t just go out and kill someone, but there are other options. It sounds like, well, you want to be in control for once, and you want to have someone close that won’t leave you.” That’s exactly what it was, and Jeff just hung his head down in slight shame. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of, Jeffrey. A lot of people have the same problem. All I can really say is that you’ll find someone who wouldn’t ever leave you, whether it be a lover or a friend. And if you’re looking for a lover to just let you take control…” She grinned and chuckled slightly, “A lot of people are looking for a cutie like you to dominate them,  _ trust me _ . A lot of people are into that type of stuff.” The brunette comforted. “And drinking isn’t going to help them stop just, like I said, find a kinky dude or chick and you’ll be good to go. Roleplaying helps a lot.” 

“Thank you, Opal. You know, you don’t have to do this. Being nice to me and stuff. I know it’s weird, you don’t have to pity me.” Jeffrey sighed and wiped his eyes, sitting up again. Opal furrowed her brows together. “I wouldn’t lie to you like that, I’m a very honest person. I want to help you and more importantly, I want to be your friend. You seem pretty cool to me, Dahmer.” 

And she smiled, she was the first person to smile at him genuinely without malicious intent. She was the only one who showed genuine interest in him. She was just so genuine and kind and just not like any girl he’d met before, but he was sure that anyone could’ve said the same thing about a girl as weird and just… lovely as Opal Audrey Bellis. He couldn’t help but to smile back, but he didn’t say anything. 

Mere moments later, the bell rang for everyone to go home and she didn’t realize that they’d been out that long. Time flew by so fast it was almost surreal. 

“Shit.” Opal muttered, standing up from the log. Jeff did the same and grabbed his briefcase. “I gotta go find my friend! I guess I’ll see you around, Dahmer. Right?” She hopped over the fallen tree, looking back with a broad smile and a wave before taking off towards the front of the school, where Bonnibel had been waiting.

“There you are! You just left in the middle of English and you didn’t come back! Where were you? All of our friends were wondering where you were at.” Bonni panicked and stomped her foot while crossing her arms.

Opal shrugged. “I met a new friend, actually. He’s pretty cool. That and you know I hate English class. We all know how to talk and we know the basics of writing so that’s all there really is to know, so I don’t see the point in it.” She explained, placing her hands in her pockets before turning on her heel, walking into the direction of her new home, Bonnibel beginning to walk beside her after catching up.

“So who is the kid you were talking about?”

“Oh, he’s a new kid who moved here with his family. He has a little brother in elementary and he’s weird, but super chill. His name is Jeffrey.” 

“I guess a lot did happen while we were suspended then, right? We have a new kid. Or two new kids if you count his brother.” Bonnibel smiled.

As they were walking on the sidewalk to their house, the sound of an approaching bus caught their attention. The two girls turned and watched as the bus dropped a kid off in the front of his house, the house that had been making noise the previous day. Opal’s eyes widened and so did her smile, her pearly white teeth showing.

“Yo, Dahmer! We’re neighbors!” She shouted, waving her hand at said taller blonde boy, yards away from her. She couldn’t see much from that far away, but she could tell he had smiled when he realized it was her.

When the two turned back around to continue walking to their house, which was only a few feet away, Bonnibel spoke up. “So is that the guy you were talking about? I guess now we know why we heard moving trucks and a bunch of noise yesterday.”

“Yup, that’s him. He’s got a nice house, and I know now who would pick such a weird place to live. He’s a weirdo just like us.” She explained. “He’s cute, too. I can get used to hanging out with him.”

“What about Richie?”

“Holy shit we aren’t dating, and I can hang out with more than one guy.”

“You called this Jeff guy cute.” Bonnibel quirked a brow.

“Because he is. He works out, too. I think I might just go sunbathe outside and watch him.” Opal joked, or rather half-joked. 

“Okay, first of all, you hate the sun and second, I’m so glad we don’t share a room.” Bonnibel groaned and rolled her eyes as she unlocked the door to the house. They both walked in and threw their bags on the side of the hallway, one more violently thrown than the other.

The brunette teen turned to her friend. “Why do you say that?” She asked.

“Because you literally say you hate the sun, what’s your damage?” Bonni retorted with a look that asked Opal if she was stupid without saying a single word.

“Back up there, I meant the other thing. Why wouldn’t you want to share a room with me? I’m not that bad, am I?” The shorter girl joked with a smirk on her pink, plump lips.

“No, you’re not bad, I just don’t want to be in the same room when you bring guys home or something, Opes.” She said this like it was a normal thing to say, and Opal got flustered.

“I’m not gonna bring anyone home, Bons!” She stammered, her cheeks flushing for a minute at the assumption just made about her. True, she flirted a lot, but… well yeah, she was active sometimes in that aspect, but that was in the past.

“Whatever you saaaaaaay~” Bonnibel cooed, fluffing her much shorter adoptive sister’s hair. “All I know is that a lot of people have eyes for you. That waitress lady, that Jeff guy next door, and let’s not forget Richie.” At this point she was just teasing, and she knew it, too. 

Unfortunately, two could play at that game.

“I could say the same thing about you and Will Byers.” And that sent Bonnibel running to the kitchen with her hands over her face while Opal stayed back, triumphantly giggling, her hands on her hips.

This beat living with her parents any day.


	7. Blood, Sweat, and Fear

“Why are you getting dressed like that, Opes?” Came a voice, leaning in the door way to a victorian-esque decorated room. The girl whom the voice belonged to stood there for a moment before walking over to the bed in that room and plopping herself down, still waiting on an answer. 

Opal, or Opes as Bonnibel referred to her as, stood in front of her dresser’s vanity, pulling her hair up into a ponytail, her long hair tumbling down her back in silky waves while she did so. “Me and Jeffrey were gonna work out together. He does different stuff than I do, but I thought it would be fun.” She said with a light shrug. “Why do you ask?” 

Bonnibel didn’t really have an explanation for why she asked, so she just shrugged as well. “I guess I was curious. I thought you were supposed to wear sweat bands when you worked out.” Her brunette housemate looked at her with an almost disgusted expression. “Ew, no, I look horrid in those stupid things.” And she did. Why would anyone wear something like that? It retained sweat to your head as well as dirt, which led to breakouts and ugh, gross. “So what kind of, ehem,” Bonnibel put up her air quotations, “’Workouts’ are you guys gonna be doing?”

Opal shot her a small glare. “I’ll probably be doing yoga and he’s going to be lifting weights, Bonnibel. His dick isn’t going inside of me, for the last time. I don’t even think he really likes girls anyhow.” Classic Opal, using extreme profanity to get her point across. Classic Bonnibel, gagging at her describing intimacy. “Ew…” She gagged, turning away as her friend got dressed. “You didn’t have to say it like that.”

“’Course I did, or I wouldn’t have gotten that reaction.” The oldest smirked back in the mirror at her now pouting companion. “God it’s so bloody easy to annoy you. I quite enjoy it.” She teased again. This is what friends were for, and it’s what happened when friends lived together. It was funny as hell honestly. 

For the next few minutes Opal spent getting dressed in her workout clothes, Bonnibel spent playing her Atari system. By the time she was finished, Bonni had lost a game of Pac-man. Honestly, she was just bad at videogames, and Opal was fast at getting dressed. Said brunette walked over to the full-length mirror she had to see if her clothes looked okay, and more importantly, if her ass looked juicy. Check, and check, at least she guessed. High waisted, stretchy short shorts and a loose shirt that sported a cigarette logo on the breast area. She quickly slipped on her sneakers and grabbed her bag to speed-walk out of the house before Bonni could lose another level and ask her to do it for her, as was common with the two. 

After briefly telling Linda and James that she would be next door, she was off. 

Even if the house was technically next door, it was still a ways away from her current house. These houses were set in the woods, so the people who had originally built these tried not to disturb the foliage and such in the process, so there was quite a bit of space in between each house. With that being said, with her walking it took Opal about five minutes to reach the Dahmer residence, and when she did, she knocked on the door and waited politely for someone to answer. 

Eventually a little boy came to the door and inside she could hear a loud female voice over the phone. The blue-eyed girl looked down at what she assumed to be Jeffrey’s brother and smiled slightly. “Hey, I’m here to see Jeff, is he home?” She asked.

The little boy giggled slightly. “Your voice sounds funny.” Wow, okay, this was why Opal typically didn’t like kids. Before she could say “Well your voice sounds equally funny to me”, a much taller Dahmer entered the picture and shooed David off before stepping outside. 

“Hey! How’s it hanging?” The short teen asked, placing a hand on her hip. The question flustered Jeffrey a bit until he realized that technically that was slang, and she was asking how he was doing. 

“Oh, fine. Um, do you wanna go…Back, there?” He asked softly, pointing to what appeared to be a small deck area in the back of his house. Opal peered back there and looked at a small table that held weights and a radio and nodded. She just wondered why he didn’t exercise inside? Perhaps he was embarrassed about his home life, that was the exact reason why she didn’t have anyone over at her old mansion. Her family was cruel, and she didn’t want any of her friends to have to deal with them, especially not her brother. 

“Yeah, totally. Let’s do this!” She cheered, waiting on him to lead the way, and he did after a few milliseconds of standing there awkwardly like he had a tendency to do. When he opened the little white picket gate to the deck, she was met with the beautiful scenery of the back of the woods, which was thick and fragrant of wild flowers and plants. She continued to stare as she walked in behind him but snapped out of it rather quickly. She didn’t want to keep him waiting or else she ran the risk of him thinking she didn’t want to be there with him, which wasn’t true at all. She thoroughly enjoyed spending time with people of like minds. 

“So…” He began, pretty much waiting for her to begin first. She didn’t mind at all, especially if it made him more comfortable. 

Opal rummaged around in her bag before pulling out a yoga mat that matched her red shorts, unintentionally of course. “Hey, watch this.” She grinned over at him, rolling out her mat. He was sort of scared of what she would do, or if something bad would happen and she would get hurt. The petite girl laid down on the mat before kicking her feet and her lower body up, over her head. It stayed in place as she did a split, upside down at that. 

Jeff had held in his breath the whole time until she carefully let herself back down into a stretching position. That’s a relief. She didn’t hurt herself. He took that time to whip off his plain white shirt, revealing his well-defined abdomen and other signs of rigorous workout, including v-lines. His guest had been watching as he did that, it was almost like a dramatic movie scene, and it caused her to slip up a little. Luckily, she regained her posture, though, and was able to make it look like nothing happened. But goddamn, she never knew he was so…toned? Was that the word she was looking for? Not quite, but it was something a little more PG. So, let’s just go with that. 

After a while of pumping hand-held weights and Opal being in inhuman positions, Jeffrey crouched down and placed his palms on the wooden deck to begin doing push-ups. Opal looked back at him and stood up, getting off her mat. 

“Don’t put your bare hands on there, you’ll get splinters.” She scolded and warned all at the same time. The blonde male looked up at her and stood up. Okay, he just wouldn’t do push-ups. But she just looked at him with her arms crossed. “Well?” She asked expectantly. 

He was confused. “What?”

Instead of yelling or saying something mean to him like he would’ve expected most people to do, she just giggled and flashed that smile of hers. “Use my mat, silly.”

He couldn’t do that. It was hers and she was exercising, too. “But what about you? You were using it and it’s yours.” He argued lightly, not wanting to kick her off her own equipment. He wouldn’t feel right doing that, but Opal insisted by motioning to the red padding. “I have an idea.” She said once again with that lovely smile of hers. So real, so genuine, so… different from anyone else he knew.

At her second request, he didn’t question it, he walked over to the mat and knelt down on it before leaning on his hands and doing one push up, then hearing Opal. “Okay, hold it there!” She ordered, and he obeyed, his arms locking him in that position. 

There was the sound of shuffling coming from her bag and then footsteps approaching him. What on earth was she doing? 

His mental question was quickly met by a light weight on his back and Opal’s shoes disappearing from sight. What was happening? What was she doing?

“There we go, problem solved!” He heard her again, but she was closer, and it confirmed his suspicions, she was on his back. How did a guy handle a situation like this? What did he do? His arms were starting to hurt and man he felt weird. But this did give him some feeling of power over her. He controlled if she fell or not, which did make him feel something, though he wasn’t sure what.

Opal sat crisscross atop Jeffrey’s back, with a magazine in hand, reading carefully through the pages until she realized he hadn’t moved yet. She looked over at his blonde hair and ran a little hand through it. “You can move now, you know, you’re not going to hurt me.” She joked, going back to thumbing through pages to look at things that caught her eye.

He was afraid he would hurt her, though, but he pressed on and moved up and down, the small girl on his back staying in place and talking to him every few minutes about different things, whether it be something she’d found in her magazine that she wanted or a dirty joke about this being what the missionary position was like, which would send Jeff looking intently at the yoga mat beneath him, embarrassed, but utterly happy to have this kind of company. 

He’d thought it so many times before and he’d think it time and time again. This girl was so different from anyone he’d ever met. She was unique. She was weird, dark, and beautiful. He didn’t know how to feel or  _ what _ to feel. How did he deal with this? He liked boys, but then came along Opal and he didn’t know what to think anymore. She flipped his whole perspective upside down, but in the best way possible. She helped him through any dark thoughts he had, and she joked around with him and did stupid things like this, just to bring him out of his shell and get him to have more fun. She did so much just for him, and it meant a lot. He just hoped that his dark thoughts would spare her from being the object of their fantasies. She was new to him and very important. 

It was like she was his cure or something, and he felt stupid for thinking such a cliché thing, but it made him smile when he was alone, and it made his cold, dead heart feel something for the first time in years. Someone had finally noticed his existence.

And she was absolutely perfect in his eyes.


	8. A Crescendo Into Obsession

The early signs of winter had hit the sleepy little town of Hawkins, Indiana, which meant that it was getting colder and colder, and most kids had enough sense to dress in warm layers. Most. 

Right this second, it had begun snowing outside while Opal walked home from school, having been left alone because Bonnibel was hanging out with Will for the day. She didn’t mind, she liked that they were spending time together and she blatantly hoped that the two would begin dating soon. They were perfect together, and they clicked just like puzzle pieces. Opal herself hadn’t found her own puzzle piece yet, though. It was frustrating seeing everyone else couple up, and her just being, well, there. There was Mike and El, Lucas and Max, Bill and Beverly, and then Will and Bonni. She was happy for everyone else, though, albeit jealous. She’d never admit that to anyone, though. Not even herself. Not by a longshot. 

Let us recall when I said that most kids were dressed warmly in this snowy weather. Opal was a small percent of the population that hadn’t done that, and was walking around in shorts, a shirt, and a thin jacket. It didn’t bother her, she enjoyed the cold. Now you may be asking if her guardians didn’t stop her before she went out the door, and they didn’t. Like many days, they were already at work and Opal had ignored Bonnibel’s warnings that she could get sick.  _ Whatever _ , she thought,  _ I never get sick. _

It was proving to be harder and harder to endure stepping in snow that was going up to her legs while the wind blew at her frostbitten cheeks, her nose and outer extremities were now a rosy pink. She shivered at the breeze sent by an oncoming bus that had stopped a few yards ago and was passing beside her. Damned bus didn’t even care that she was there and freezing to death. Not that Opal noticed this was a serious health concern. Luckily someone else did. 

“Opal.” A familiar quiet, awkward voice said, causing her to turn to meet the glassed gaze of Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer, her neighbor and friend. “Aren’t you cold?” He asked, in a worried voice, but his somewhat blank expression stayed.

She looked down at her legs and then back up at his towering figure. She didn’t feel too terribly cold. Was that normal? “No, why?”  

“I think it would be best if you come inside and stay for a while.” He offered, pointing back to his house. “My parents are away and it’s a while away from your house. Once the snow slacks off and you warm up, I’ll drive you home.” It was weird to see him so worried. Why would anyone worry about her? It was that one, she was still his only friend, two, she was a very important person to him, so he had the right to worry, and three, she didn’t look like she had enough weight on her body to be fine in clothes like that while snowing.

To Opal, though, it was just strange to see a spark of concern in those dull blue eyes of his. Even so, she figured hanging out with a friend would be better than staying alone in her house for hours until someone else showed up. “Alright, fine. You’ve convinced me. You’re a very persuasive man, Jeff.” The girl joked, nudging him in the arm. “Let’s go then.” She proceeded to take a few steps forward, the snow crunching between her feet, but Jeff quickly stopped her by saying “no” repeatedly until she did. 

“What? What’s wrong?” 

“Your feet will fall off if you keep walking.” He smiled, and she snorted. That only made sense to people who knew Jeff, in which he was saying that her shoes weren’t suitable for walking in the snow and she could get frostbite. He was correct, too. 

“Well then how am I supposed to get to your house?” She asked, crossing her arms and quirking a brow in a sassy manner. “I can’t just fly there, you know.”

Jeff paused and thought before chuckling to himself. “You’re so fussy. I’ll just carry you, if that’s fine with you.” The thought hit Opal pretty fast, and she wasn’t into it at first, she was embarrassed by someone picking her up like she was just nothing, so she turned the other direction and attempted to walk back to her house. Jeff had other ideas, though. He swiftly picked her up by her waist and held the smaller girl in his arms. She did weigh virtually nothing, and he was used to picking things up that weight much more than her. 

The brunette wasn’t having it, though. She was complaining and squirming and just trying to get down. Jeff stopped that rather quickly with a comment that went something like “you’re such a whiner.”, and then she shut up because she was acting like a baby, and that was more embarrassing than being picked up. It wasn’t that terrible, either. She was just overreacting for some reason, she supposed the thought of him picking her up made her flustered, but she wasn’t sure why. 

Meanwhile, the taller blonde savored this moment. Being able to hold her like this, having her be completely still and limp in his arms. So cold, so frail, so tired. It was almost like one of his fantasies come to life only a little different. Was this what it was like to hold a corpse? He didn’t get it. Normally, he would want someone he found attractive to be dead so he could take advantage of them, but this was so much different with Opal. She was special. She wasn’t a man, which was weird. He was gay, and he was pretty sure of it. And rather than wanting to kill her and take advantage of her body, he wanted only one of those things. He wanted her to be well and to get warm, be healthy and live. He wanted her to stay with him and never leave him, and he wanted to feel her skin against his. This girl was an addiction worse than his nicotine or alcohol one had ever been. She was special, and he wouldn’t forgive himself if he hurt her; the girl who practically healed him. But he knew she would never feel the same, not after what all he’d told her. 

Jeffrey opened the front door to his house and swiftly kicked it closed so he wouldn’t have to put Opal down. He was enjoying holding her more than anything and he would do anything to let this moment go on. 

It became apparent to him just how cold she was, and he got even more worried, if that was possible. “Here,” he said, laying her down on his bed gently, not caring if the melting snow ruined his bedding or mattress, he needed to take care of her right now and that was all he was worried about. 

The petite, shaking girl sat down and watched him dig through his clothes and the back of his closet. She had no idea what he was doing, but she didn’t question him at the moment. He was acting out of fear and doing what he felt would help her, which was sweet of him to do. He threw a few items over his shoulder and walked back over to her, placing what seemed to be clothes next to her. Were they his? They looked to be clothes he’d outgrown but didn’t give to his little brother yet. “Change into these, your clothes are wet and these are warmer. I’ll step out so you can get dressed, I’ll start the fireplace and make hot cocoa or something.” And with that, he briskly walked out of the room, softly shutting the door behind him.

He was such a gentleman, he didn’t even make a nasty comment, he just wholeheartedly wanted her to get better.

Opal took this time undressing to look around his room. There were anatomy books here and there, murky jars, weights, and other odd things that she found endearing. He was so into what he loved doing, which was an amazing trait. To be passionate. A smile spread across her face while her fingers moved quickly to button the last part of the shirt, and then it became apparent that she was wearing his old pajamas. They were blue with white trim, and were a little loose on her, but she didn’t mind. They were warmer than her previous clothes and they smelled like Jeff. 

Gathering her wet and cold clothes, she walked down the hallway and into their living area where there he was, sitting in front of the fireplace, now lit, with a steaming cup next to him. Opal padded over, the carpet muffling her small footsteps. She sat down next to him, folding her legs and setting her dirty clothes off to the side so they’d hopefully dry. 

When he finally heard her sit down, he picked up the warm glass and handed it to her. “It’s hot.” He warned. Her smaller hands reached out to retrieve the mug, and their hand brushed against one another, sending an almost electric chill up their spines.

“Thanks.” Opal said, drinking up the sweet liquid he’d made for her. “Not just for the drink but for getting me out of the cold and trying to warm me up and stuff. It was really sweet of you, Dahmer.” She smiled, setting the cup down. The heat of the fireplace warmed her body and her face, and her sudden exhaustion from school his her like a wall made from bricks. The smaller girl yawned and stretched, her eyes growing heavy. They burned with sleep, and the slumber was coaxing her over. 

Her little form moved closer to her male friend and leaned her head on his shoulder. He turned to look at her face from beneath his glasses and the blonde hair that had fallen in his face to see the face of a sleeping angel, curled up in his clothes. He imagined she had gotten sick and was running a fever by now because the back of her neck was hot and her cheeks were flushed. That and she was asleep on him. Not that he minded. Her long hair was splayed everywhere and her expression was so peaceful and innocent, like a doll. He smiled softly, using slow movements to pull her into him, and it was the perfect place for her, right away she buried her face into his chest, causing a weird feeling to fester there, to control his hands to move around her waist and shoulders and hold this small, weird girl close to him.

He didn’t know how he would explain this to her parents, and he hoped they didn’t forbid him from seeing her. He didn’t hurt her at all, at least he didn’t think he did. Then again he could see why parents would be wiry of him. He was a pervert. An exhibitionist. A masturbator. A freak. He didn’t deserve this kind of bond with another person. 

He just hoped to god his fantasies would spare Opal from being involved in them, he didn’t know if he could take that. He would rather die before doing something so awful to her, or even think about such a thing.

He didn’t deserve such a perfect thing.


	9. Cough Syrup

It started with a sneeze, and then a cough, and the chills. And now there she was, laying in bed a sweaty, shivering heap of blankets and aches. Opal was sick due to her not heeding any warnings she’d gotten about wearing clothes that weren’t good for winter, especially since it wasn’t uncommon for winters in Hawkins to reach below freezing, and the fact that it snowed frequently, too, didn’t help her situation, being wet in the cold was a recipe for disaster and with her weak immune system something bad was bound to happen. That being the common cold. 

Things were going as well as they could’ve been going for Opal at the moment. She was in bed, still in Jeffrey’s pajamas, alone at home on a weekday. Her attendance record must’ve looked absolutely awful by now from missing so much school. It’s not like things were her fault, though. Wait… this was her fault technically. People told her not to dress like that in cold weather and she didn’t listen. 

While she was laying in bed half dead, there was a knock at the door. The sound made Opal groan loudly, mostly because she had to get up and answer the damn door and she couldn’t just lay in bed and die in peace. 

The small girl peeled herself off the bed, wrapping a blanket around her shoulder before slowly trudging over to the front door. When she opened it, she just looked at the person on the other side for a while. 

“Wow you look fucking awful.”

“Why the hell did you skip school just to make fun of me, Tozier?” She asked in a nasally voice, her eyes showing zero amusement. 

Richie shrugged and shuffled his feet, looking for an answer to give Opal other than “because I felt like it”. Long story short he came up with virtually the same answer reworded differently. “School was boring, and you were the only one home.”

She let out a long sigh before stepping out of the way of the door frame to let him in, and he walked in like he owned the damn place. 

“Oh, some upperclassman ordered you some flowers with her dad’s credit card.” He said, lifting his hand to reveal a bouquet of red roses. Opal grabbed them and moved to the kitchen to grab a vase and begin filling it with water. “Which upperclassman?” she asked, curiosity in her voice. 

“Heather…Chandler I think? The bitch who wears red all the time.” Yeah, that was Heather Chandler alright. She did have a fondness for the color red, and for Opal, or her “mini-me” as she referred to her as. She was like an older sister who forced anyone to do anything she wanted, and it was cool having some rando massively popular girl have a fondness for you for no apparent reason whatsoever. Opal hummed and placed the flowers in the vase, placing them up on the windowsill that was already cluttered with plants on either side thanks to Linda.

“I’ll have to thank her when I get back to school.” She muttered, looking over at a clock hanging from the wall, huffing a little. “I need to take that nasty cough syrup shit.” 

The male walked over and reached for the bottle on the counter. He assumed this was what she meant, and she was right. He didn’t like the taste of cough syrup either so he didn’t blame her for not wanting to drink it. But she needed to get well. He was pretty much lost without her at school to cut up with. “Alright, well take it then.” He said, opening drawers until he found one that had silverware in it, grabbing a tablespoon out of that before shutting it loudly. 

Opal made a face at the bottle and shook her head. “I don’t need it anymore.” She lied, turning her face away. Of course, any normal person didn’t believe that shit for a second. Including Richie, even though he was by no means normal. 

“Alright, then let’s take your temperature.” He said, grabbing the thermometer that had been left on the counter, and right away she got defensive.

“Woah, woah, woah, since when did you become my fucking nurse?” She asked, quirking a brow.

“Everyone needs a sexy nurse to tend to  _ all _ of their needs, Opes. It sounds like you’re too chicken shit to check your temperature. Now how would you like it? Anal or oral? Of course we can always do both.” He laughed at his own jokes like the absolute nerd he was, and Opal wasn’t amused.

Sigh. Why was Richie the way that he was? Opal rolled her eyes so hard she thought they might fall out along with the rest of her melting internal organs. “For fucks sake…” She muttered, snatching the thermometer from his hands. She shook it to get all of the mercury at the bottom before sticking it under her tongue, leaning against the counter while her friend rummaged through the cabinets like he usually did in other people’s houses. 

Five minutes later, he came back around to her and yanked the glass stick out of her mouth, holding it so he could read where the red liquid landed on the notches. “One-oh-three. Yeah no you’re taking that nasty shit.” He laughed, probably at her pain. He placed the thermometer aside and grabbed the spoon, and then the bottle of cough syrup. It took him a few tries to open the childproof cap but he got it open after a while. Of course, he held the bottle up to his nose and smelled it, gagging at the pungent artificial cherry smell, which made Opal with she had fucking eaten the thermometer. Richie poured the thick substance into the spoon and held it out for her to take.

Hesitantly, Opal grabbed the handle of the spoon and looked at it for a minute before pouring the shit down the sink, much to the male teen’s dismay. 

“Opal!” he exclaimed, running a hand through his messy hair.

She simply shrugged and dropped the spoon in the sink. “Whoops.” 

Richie crossed his arms and thought for a minute, looking at his friend, the girl he cared about most. He wanted her to get better and as much as he agreed that the taste of cough syrup was just plain evil, she needed to get better so he wouldn’t be so fucking bored at school. He turned on his heel and walked over to the refrigerator to look around for a bit before finding a bottle of water. He slammed the door shut and opened the bottle. Opal had absolutely no idea what this little shit was planning, but she already didn’t like it. 

The boy slowly wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer, and Opal’s confusion got about ten times worse. “Richie what the fu-?” and then her lips met with the sticky, sweet, and bitter taste of cough syrup. That little shit. She shut her eyes really hard and tried not to swallow any but she did anyways, causing her to gag at the taste. There was never a worse thing she’s put in her mouth.

After he was sure she swallowed, he held the water bottle up to her lips, and Opal quickly broke away from his hold, downing the whole bottle in hopes of getting the taste out of her mouth. Meanwhile Richie was having a field day laughing his ass off at how she was reacting. He needed her to get better, and the only way to get her to take her medicine was to distract her in the best way he knew how. By acting out of character…even if it really wasn’t that out of character. He’d always wanted to do that, so it was just an excuse to finally be able to.

“I bloody hate you.” She panted, rubbing her lips with the back of her hand. 

He snorted at her British lingo and wiped his hands on his shorts. “Yeah, yeah. I bet you do.” 

Opal huffed and wrapped her blanket around her shoulders tighter, looking off into the living room and then at the hallway. She was suddenly really tired, and she blamed it on the fact that she’d been struggling to get away from that nasty ass medicine, and now that it was in her system, it was making her sleepy. She just wanted to feel better so she could go to school and see all of her friends again. She didn’t like staying at home alone as much as she enjoyed it when she lived in London. 

She yawned and rubbed her eyes, leaning against the counter before stumbling off to her bedroom. From behind she looked like a sentient blanket, which made Richie laugh a little. She was so cute.

Wait.

What?

Let’s forget he ever said that. That was his plan. 

Richie followed Opal into her room where she was leaning against her bed in front of her television, her Atari system hooked up. She looked up at him and motioned to the controller. “I thought you’d want to get your daily gaming in since you came over here instead of school.” In all honesty, she just really liked watching him play video games. It was almost therapeutic. And let’s be honest here, Richie wasn’t about to pass up an opportunity to play videogames, especially not if Opal was the one offering.

The shorter teen crawled up on her bed under the covers, rolling over to face the television screen and the taller teen walked over and sat down on the edge of her bed, taking the controller with him. As soon as he selected his game and pressed play, Opal drifted off to sleep. He didn’t notice, though. Not until an hour had passed and he’d won a few games. He turned around to talk to her, only to see that her eyes were closed and she was breathing lightly. He was stunned for a minute and he didn’t know how to react, and then he gained his composure again. 

Slowly and carefully, he stood up from her bed and picked up the gaming system so she wouldn’t have to do it when she woke up. He didn’t want to leave, honestly. He wanted to watch her sleep as weird as it sounded. She looked so perfect like that, and he was glad he was the only boy she allowed to see her in such a state. Good thing he didn’t know about Jeffrey, right? 

After a few minutes of watching her sleeping figure, he decided he needed to go in case Bonnibel or her parents came home and questioned why there was a teenage boy here. It took him a few hesitant movements, but eventually he did it.

He laid a soft kiss on her sleeping head before quietly shutting her door and leaving her house. His chest fluttered the whole while he walked home, and he felt like it was getting harder to deny his feelings anymore.

But he would try.


	10. Body and Soul

That morning was one of the best ones she’d had. She had gotten rid of her cold a few days ago and was still kind of weird but otherwise things had died down. Except now Bonnibel had a cold, most likely from her. So instead of staying the night over there and having a vicious cycle of illness and germs, she decided to crash over at a friend’s house, but it was someone close so she wouldn’t have to stray too far from her actual home.

That, and Richie’s parents would  _ never ever _ let him have a friend over to spend the night, let alone a girl. Little did they know that she’s had her fair share of crashes at his place, but she left in the morning as to not get her friend in trouble. 

Not this time, though. Her friend next door over was more than happy to house her for the day until Bonnibel went to the doctor to get antibiotics or other kinds of medication she needed to get well… and not pass anymore germs onto Opal. Her attendance was already shitty as it was and she didn’t need to miss any more school, excused or not. She was hardly passing. Luckily, she was in the same boat with the neighbor boy (almost) and it turns out, though he regularly skipped class to drink, he was pretty good at school. He was rather smart. And his drinking had gotten better after becoming closer to Opal. She felt he was a lot happier nowadays and if it took her company to make him happier, he must’ve had an awful life. She wasn’t all that great to be honest. At least she didn’t think so.

Right now she was in bed and our favorite sociopath was sitting in a chair across from Opal, who was laying in his bed. He’d slept there most of the night in fear of making her uncomfortable. He didn’t want to accidentally be suggestive or anything like that. She was a lady and he was…gay? At least Opal could tell Bonnibel confidently that the most that happened was the two of them laying on his bed with him tracing along her ribs. It was somewhat normal; her bones were prominent because the only nutrients she got was from the carbohydrates from her alcohol. 

“We should be getting ready for school, Jeffrey.” Opal sighed, sitting up and stretching. Her shirt was way too big, and her pants were falling off pretty much. Going with the visibility of her bones, her hips were showing and her collar bones were poking out. She looked at herself in the mirror next to the bed and grinned. 

“I didn’t know if you wanted me to leave or not.” He replied, rubbing his eyes from underneath his glasses. He was tired, but it was worth it. He got to watch her sleep for another time, and it was becoming a small addiction. She looked like an angel on earth, and she saved him from himself and his destructive thoughts. Well, not really but that’s what he would’ve liked to believe. In reality, they’d gotten off that path of destruction he was paving for himself, and had begun to forge yet another destructive path. He was mentally unstable and it just couldn’t be helped it seemed. Damage in that way always starts at a young age, and that it did. His mother was crazy, so he supposed he’d gotten that aspect from her and the quiet part from his father. His mom was never like this, though. She didn’t have urges to hurt others or to do unspeakable things with the dead. As far as he knew. What he did know, however, was that he was going to protect this dark beam of light that had wandered into his life. He would protect it at all costs, and anyone who objected? That would end badly for them. He was already crazy before, with little to no motive; imagine how dangerous he is now that he has a valid reason.

Opal was still looking at herself in the mirror when his eyes went back into focus from the blur his rubbing had caused. “You like anthropology, right? Studying skeletons?” she asked, looking over at Jeffrey.

He hesitated, afraid of sounding too weird or enthusiastic about the subject. “Yeah.” He answered plainly, recalling that his first encounter with bones was from his father retrieving animal skeletons from under their home back in Ohio. That was where the interest began. 

He didn’t expect her to giggle, but she let out a laugh. What did that mean? Was she making fun of him or what? The blonde grew tense before relaxing back into his chair at her words.

“You should study me then, I’m practically a bloody skeleton already.” She laughed. It was good that she was able to poke fun of herself but he couldn’t help but worry if these jokes came from underlying self-hatred. He didn’t want her to feel that way towards herself, and he certainly didn’t want the accuracy of the joke to even exist. She was skinny; much too skinny. She bruised easily. He found that out. She needed to be taken more care of than she had been doing herself. It worried him. He didn’t know what he would do if she ended up taking herself away from him.

No.

He wouldn’t let that happen. It  _ couldn’t  _ happen. He would just die. It would end up a situation where he would steal her body and keep it, no matter if he had to dig up a grave to retrieve it. She had to be with him forever. She couldn’t leave him. 

Jeffrey didn’t know how to react to that joke. He didn’t want to laugh, it wasn’t funny because of how serious the topic was, but he just faintly smiled. “I’m going to go to the bathroom, you should get dressed.” He advised, standing up to his full stature before walking out of the room. 

Opal wondered what he would be doing. They were already clean, and they’d already brushed their teeth. She assumed he needed to use the bathroom and not glare into the mirror over the sink like a true psychopath would. She followed orders, though. Mostly because school time was nearing and at the pace things were going, they’d be late. 

“Alright.” She muttered, getting out of bed, letting her feet touch the cold wooden floor. 

She slipped her pants off, the fabric puddling around her thin figure. And then she slipped off her shirt and suddenly she was colder than usual. She crouched down to her bag and began digging through her clothes with her thin, pale fingers, unaware of the taller figure peeking through the door.

You could say it was in a sort of act of perversion, him watching her while she got dressed, but he did like watching how she behaved when no one else was around, and he loved watching the way her bones peeked through her back when she moved. It was beautifully grotesque, entrancing and haunting. First she put on her tights, then her shorts, then she tucked in a shirt and threw an old windbreaker he had given her over her clothes, so she wouldn’t get sick again. He made sure of that.

Opal flicked her hair out of the jacket and slipped on her sneakers, grabbing her bag. She couldn’t help but think of Bonnibel, who was sick at home because of her. She also couldn’t not think about how a few days prior she was brought into questioning with the police. Apparently, a kid had gone missing and they found little to no trace of his body. It was a kid she had been talking to later on that week; the day he went missing. She had told the police her truth, that he wasn’t there when she arrived at the meeting place she gave him. The brunette imagined that he had forgotten or something, and it wasn’t really that big of a deal. To think that she’d seen someone just hours before they went missing was a frightening thought. She was the last person to see him.

She wondered what happened to him. 

Was it her fault? She sure felt like it. 

She breathed in sharply when she heard the sound of the door creaking open, but she calmed down after a minute once realizing it was only Jeff. He was dressed and it looked like he was ready. He was sporting his usual collared shirt and khakis, which Opal frequently teased him over. He looked like a dork. It was cute, though. 

“Does it fit?” he asked, nodding to the maroon, white, and navy colored jacket. 

Opal looked down at herself and stuffed her hands in the pockets, the length reaching just above her shorts. It was kind of big on her, most things were, but it sure as hell was comfortable. “Yeah, I love it!” She smiled, her cheeks dimpling. Jeffrey’s heart pounded.

She couldn’t just leave him after all she’d done for him, he wanted to protect her and keep her out of harm’s way, even if he had to do awful things for it.

And he had.

It was just hidden under his red painted fingernails; which Opal had insisted on doing. It ended up in his favor, though, she he didn’t mind the teasing he received from others. In his eyes, the risk of a life sentence in prison was worth it if it meant he could hold onto this girl forever. 

Rather than seeing her as his, he saw things the opposite way. He was hers and he would do anything to prove himself to her. What did he have to prove? Nothing, nothing at all. But there was no rationalizing what a mentally ill person at this level of sickness thought. The blonde male smiled back a little. “Good.” He muttered softly. He had been more quiet than usual, and Opal noticed. She assumed he was just as confused as she was about that incident. She’d told him about the interrogation the day it happened, but he didn’t say anything afterwards, only saying an apology. That boy was in his class, too, so she figured most of the kids were in mourning.

He hadn’t been pronounced dead, but this town knew that if kids went missing it was a big deal and they were more than likely not going to come back. They found that out the last few rounds, and the little group that migrated from Maine also confirmed that to be a possibility, though for a different reason all together. That little crush her sister had was lucky to even be alive after all of that, usually nothing lasted for more than three minutes before perishing. But the gate, whatever that was, was closed. The group’s words, not Opal’s. She didn’t even know what the hell they were talking about in the first place. 

A few moments of silence passed while she grabbed her bag and made sure that she looked fine, and then they got into the car his father had left while he was away with his wife and son, doing whatever unhappy families did. The short statured girl buckled herself up once they were inside and waited for Jeffrey to do the same. The car made a loud sputtering sound when he twisted the key, but after some time it made a steady hum which signaled it was alright to back out and begin driving to school. It was a nice car. It was red, kind of old and worn, but it was still nice. An old car was better than no car, after all.

The drive to school was silent, which wasn’t unusual with Jeff. He was a quiet boy and didn’t really talk much, and so Opal didn’t try to force him to talk back if he didn’t want to. That would be incredibly rude and frankly, annoying. She knew that’s what she would’ve wanted anyway. Little did they both know they were too busy thinking the situation over. Opal felt it was stupid that she was worrying too much and she just wanted to forget about it like most of the town had seemed to do. She barely knew the dude after all. She just walked in the arcade to see something, noticed that he seemed familiar, and asked him to hang out. That was it. She wasn’t his best friend, and she wasn’t part of his family. She didn’t know anything but his name. 

On the other hand, the taller teen was pulling into the student parking lot, thinking about what was happening as well, only from a different point of view. He was just trying to protect her. That’s what he told himself. Deep down, he knew the exact reason why he did what he did. 

He was trying to take her away from him.

That wouldn’t do, would it? She couldn’t just leave him to rot like his parents had done, she couldn’t leave him to spiral back into the dark madness that held him captive for too many years. He wouldn’t let her. 

Eventually the two got out just as the bell was ringing, a few kids trailing behind to put off getting to class. One of those being a familiar, freckled face. 

Opal’s blue eyes lit up and she grinned from cheek to cheek, practically jumping out of her seat. She slammed the metal door shut, a loud thud coming from the action. “Hey, asshole!” she shouted, darting off to the figure, who was no other than her beloved friend, Richie. 

Jeff was still in the car, watching the two hold onto each other’s shoulders while they walked into the building. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he noted the happy expression on their faces and what looked like laughing. He’d never seen this boy around, and he was just finding out? Who was he? He seemed close to Opal. Too close if you asked him. His knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel, watching their fading figures walk into the building, a cold feel to his eyes. 

If he had to get rid of this boy, too, then so be it. 

He tapped a finger on the wheel, the scolding hot feeling of jealousy surging throughout his body. He felt it in his chest, his face, but most of all in his hands. It was the worst there.

Meanwhile, Opal had decided to skip class yet again. English was boring and she already knew how to speak and write songs. What more was there to learn? In her defense, she’d learned nearly all of these things back in London where she was basically held captive on her property. She knew everything there was to know. 

The brunette wandered outside to the back of the school, a sinking feeling in her stomach. She couldn’t stop her legs from carrying her to the very place she stood a few days ago. The log.  _ Her _ log. 

She let out a sigh as she approached it, her hands in her jacket’s pockets while she looked over the area. She felt so weird and…everything just felt off about this place now. She once knew it to be a fun place to hang out and talk to whoever for a while, maybe have a smoke or two, but now it was just haunted with the same eerie aura she felt when she heard about the incident. It sent chills throughout her body, and she shivered despite wearing a jacket. 

The British girl slung her bag down near the log and sat down on it, her elbows on her knees and her posture slouched over. She didn’t feel… right. Nothing felt as it was supposed to be and she hated it. She hated that she felt like things were her fault, and she hated that she was feeling things. Especially sadness and grief for a boy she never even knew. Why would she mourn the disappearance of someone she never gave two shits about until now? She didn’t understand. 

Opal kicked at the ground angrily, her hands combing through and pulling at the espresso colored locks on her head. Her glassy, wet eyes looked down in front of her. From the corner of her eye, she felt a glint hit her vision. 

“Bloody hell,” Opal blinked. “What the fuck is that?” she grumbled, rubbing her eyes, scoffing in disgust about the wetness that was smeared onto the back of her hand. Thank god no one was around, she would be humiliated.

Her blue orbs searched the leaf covered ground in an attempt to find out where the bright light had come from. She used her shoes to kick leaves away from the forest floor while she was desperately looking for what had caused that to happen. Did she really need to find the source? No, it was merely a distraction to keep her from thinking about the creeping feeling of dread and fear that was slowly engulfing her. She didn’t understand why, but it was happening. She also didn’t understand why these feelings didn’t feel like they were her own, but as if the feeling came from someone else. 

But then she found it. A necklace. 

She leaned down and picked up the chain, running it in between her fingers. It was a nice necklace; why would someone leave it here? Were they looking for it? It was so cool, and it seemed rather expensive, so she just assumed someone was walking back here and they lost it.

Opal glanced at it for a long moment before slipping it over her head, taking her hair out of the chain. Only then did she notice bits of dried blood, and she began to panic. Whose blood was this? How did it get here?! Her hands moved to pull at it, trying desperately to tear it off her neck. 

That’s when a cold air hit her, like electricity running through wire, and she yelped, dropping the necklace back onto her neck, her eyes clinching shut. “What the  _ fuck _ .” She breathed in a shaky breath. She didn’t want to open her eyes back up, and she could tell that she probably looked crazy right now if anyone were outside watching. 

She didn’t care, though. She was adequately freaked out right now. She felt like things couldn’t possibly get much worse. How on earth could she be so very petrified in plain daylight?

As much as she wanted to keep her eyes closed in fear of whatever might be ahead, she felt like something was physically urging her to open them. It was like some otherworldly force commanding her body, but that was stupid. It was impossible. But if aliens, alternate dimensions, and monsters were real… then couldn’t that be a perfectly logical explanation?

The brunette let out another ragged breath, clutching her chest. “That’s stupid.” She spoke to herself, under her breath. 

“What’s stupid is that I can perfectly recite Shakespeare now.” Came a voice, seemingly coming from nowhere at first, and then the voice moved to directly in front of her.

_ “Don’t open your eyes.” _

_ “Don’t open your eyes.” _

_ “Don’t do it.” _

_ “Please…” _

That’s all that was going through her head at the moment, she didn’t want to look at whoever was watching her have her breakdown or out of body experience or whatever you wanted to call it. 

She did, though, and she thought things couldn’t possibly get any worse than they already felt, but she was fucking wrong. The  _ one time _ she was wrong, it had to be about this. 

“What? Don’t like my necklace?” the voice chuckled in a charming way, as if nothing was wrong. Clearly, there was something very, very wrong.

“J-J..J—” She couldn’t even manage to spit out his whole name, or any word for that matter. Opal, for once in her life, was speechless. She grabbed onto the necklace again and her eyes widened to an almost inhumanly large size. 

There, standing before her, was the very boy that had just suddenly disappeared out of thin air. The necklace was his? Did that mean he had actually come to this spot at some point? Her breathing wouldn’t slow down at all, especially now that she had a pretty good idea as to why there was blood on the chain of the necklace in the first place. She knew those leaves seemed too red to be natural, but that didn’t explain how he was still standing there in front of her, in seemingly perfect condition despite the huge gash across his neck that seemed to go all the way through. It was so scary, in the horror type way. Of course, she had already lived her own nightmare countless times, but this was the ridiculous type of fear that only seemed to appear in cheesy, poorly acted in horror movies. 

It didn’t seem real, and it certainly didn’t  _ feel _ real. But god, it was much too real. 

Upon further inspection, it seems she had been blinded by the sheer panic that had taken over her body, or else she would’ve noticed the strange blue tint to him…and also the fact that he was pretty transparent.

Opal believed in ghosts and other supernatural aspects, she studied witchcraft in her spare time for fuck’s sake, but she didn’t expect for this to ever happen to her. It was more of a “I know it’s real and shit but I’m still extremely skeptical” thing, so this came as a surprise to the blue-eyed girl. 

Having no thoughts at the moment, she correspondingly didn’t know what to say. She kept drawing blanks and her mind was running wild. This situation was too strange… Oh god if she told her party about what happened they would get to say they told her so. 

“Opal?” The taller teen called back, as if waiting for her to say something. She didn’t blame him. She would want to be spoken to as well, she just couldn’t think of anything to say to a  **fucking dead person** . Did he even know he was dead? Did he know what happened? Because she sure as hell didn’t, and she would’ve liked some kind of explanation before she went completely mental. 

At last, the English girl spoke in her soft, monotonic accent to the ghost, her expression having calmed down from frightened to weirded out.

“Jesse,” She cleared her throat, sitting up and once again taking her hands off the necklace in fear that it might seem rude. If it was really a demon or alien or something she sure as fuck didn’t want to be killed because she was being rude. She wanted to die at the hands of herself, no one else could take that satisfaction from her, and she would make sure of it. Opal continued, “Blue transparency looks good on you.” She joked nervously, crossing her legs. 

The brunette looked him up and down, studying his now very different body; not in a sexual way at all, as proven by what she said next.

“Also, you’re dead.”


	11. Underaged Whore

“Alright, so picture this. It’s really late at night and there’s this door down the stairs of an alleyway in London. You walk in, right? And you’re immediately greeted with the smell of liquor and sweat. It’s pretty dim but there are a lot of lights, which are obviously really shitty, but the place is all red and black in color. There’s a bar on one side of the room, private rooms on the other, and in the middle there’s a stage. Surrounding the stage are tables, but on the stage there are a ridiculous amount of torture devices. We’re talking medieval shit. There are mostly men there in suits and such, with masks on. I guess they’re too embarrassed to show their faces or something, despite not being too embarrassed to spend a lot of money on this place. Anyways, they’re drinking their drinks and a bunch of girls in these weird outfits are walking around while there’s a single girl on stage, humiliating the  _ hell _ out of a random guy, who paid for that mind you. Basically, everyone is wearing a mask but the girls. The employees are wearing these weird half-faced rabbit masks. The girl on stage, though, gets to wear all this cool lingerie and spikes and leather while she pegs this guy; and people watch like a bunch of sickos. That girl on stage was me.” Opal told a story from her past, laying down on the floor while her legs rested up against the wall as she spoke, her hands loosely folded over her stomach. It was rather hard for her to recall all the details because most of the time she was shit-faced or on some type of drugs to keep her from feeling. That time was a bad time, and she never wanted to go back there again. Therefore she was surprisingly happy to be here, on the concrete ground of the area outside of the school, with her legs against the brick wall, with her friend sitting beside her, cutting class to smoke as usual. School was almost out anyway so why not?

“You’re such a fucking liar,” came her friend, smoke coming out of his nose while he thumbed through a dirty magazine, “That’s illegal.” He added.

“Well no shit it’s illegal, that’s why it was underground, dumbass.” She commented, turning her head over to him while he was looking at one of those fold-out pages, and she smacked the paper to get his clearly divided attention before moving her hand to the pendant around her neck. 

“I’ll believe you if you show me pictures.” 

“In your dreams, Glasses.” Opal scoffed with a roll of her eyes, feeling the necklace in her hand. She was still on edge about the whole situation that happened earlier. If Jesse had died, then what happened? Why did he have a huge cut on his neck? Where was the body? She didn’t know what kind of psychopath would take the body of a deceased person, and she didn’t know why someone would kill another… did they have a justified reason as to why they did what they did? It would have to be a pretty good reason, but as far as she knew, Jesse didn’t have any enemies. Then again, she didn’t really know him all that well. 

Something hit her stomach with a loud sound, and she jolted back to reality. “Richie, what the actual fuck is wrong with you?” She snarled out, clutching her stomach with her other hand.

“A lot of things. You weren’t talking so I thought you were dead. I knew I wasn’t that lucky.” Wow. This little fucker. He snickered under his breath like he was prone to doing when he thought he was funny.

Opal smacked the magazine out of his hand with a slight glare. “You aren’t as funny as you think you are.” 

“I’m pretty funny.” He said, a shit-eating grin on his face. “I wanna hear more about that place you were telling me about. You know, the one where you got paid to fuck people? Isn’t that like being a prostitute or something?”

“I mean I don’t remember most of it, it was all a huge blur. And it was something like that. A sex club maybe? I don’t know the exact words for it, but it was fucked up considering they hired a fifteen-year-old girl and that people watched while I pulled someone around on a collar.” She didn’t want to talk about that stuff anymore, though. She was irritated and confused and frustrated. Her life was honestly one long director’s cut of  _ Final Destination _ , only she doesn’t die, much to her displeasure. She was unreasonably still here, smoking.

Once she got down to the filter, she spat it out beside her and sat up, pushing her body back with her legs.

Those were really dark times. The only reason she had agreed to taking that job was to get away from her home life. It was that bad. She would be high or drunk each night there to take away the pain she felt from doing something like that, but it made her feel in control so it wasn’t all that bad. She finally got to be in control of something in her life, even if it was that. And she enjoyed it for a while to be honest. For someone else to be hurt at the hands of herself, and for them to find pleasure in that. It was sick as hell, but everyone has their vices.

The bell rang and Richie quickly shoved the magazine into his bag so no one would see it. He stood up and looked over at her. He felt that something was off about Opal. Usually she talked almost as much as he did, and she had just as foul of a mouth as he did. It didn’t make sense. She was so different this morning. He couldn’t help but wonder what happened between then and now that made her so upset. He didn’t know what to say. He really wanted to help, he just wanted her to feel better. She wasn’t fun like this and she wasn’t  _ herself _ . She was the only chick he willingly hung out with. What should he do?

“I guess I’ll see ya tomorrow, Opal. I hope you feel better.” And he took off, mostly because he was scared of what she would think, or say, or do. He didn’t want to face any kind of confrontation about his personal feelings, he was too much of a pussy.

Meanwhile, a certain blonde male had been watching them talk and he actually was able to hear them this time; and his cheeks burned with jealousy. Why did she tell that boy, apparently named Richie, more than she told him? They were closer, she stayed at his house and she wore his clothes, so why did she tell this kid everything? He clinched his fists shut and walked out to his car, his dead expression still present on his face despite the waves of anger and jealousy washing over him. Jeff held his composure, though. He was still in public, but at home he could relieve that. Most of it at least. Still there were thoughts that swarmed his mind, most consisting of things he could do to get that boy out of the picture.

If Richie wasn’t careful, he might go missing, too.

Opal had been in the car with a blonde girl named Heather Chandler, who was a junior that year. She was fond of Opal for many things, most being that she reminded her of herself, so it wasn’t a surprise that she coined Opal as her Mini-Me. They shared a sort of older sister and younger sister relationship. The ones where they would wreak havoc together, and then go out for fast food. If anyone could make the British teen forget about things right now, it was Heather. 

It was shocking to others to see such a powerful figure in the student body act so nicely towards someone; it was almost unheard of. In fact, she even tended to bully her own social circle, but Opal was different for the simple answer of having an affinity towards her. She was small, pretty, she had a cool accent, and she was a total bitch when she wanted to be, and that was all the reason Heather needed to enjoy her company. 

Right now the duo was on their way to a diner, mostly because Heather knew that Opal wasn’t feeling too hot. Not that she was sick, but rather she felt something was up. Being a mythic bitch came with the skill of being able to tell what people were feeling usually, and right now the air around Opal was so heavy that it gave her drinking a run for its money. 

If there was anything that Heather didn’t like, it was her metaphorical little sister being upset over something, and so she would do anything to fix it. She was that kind of person that latched onto a few things she enjoyed and she stuck with those things. She put her heart into those things she loved, even if it was partying or drinking or bullying people. No one ever said the things she loved were good for anyone.

The rest of the day they spoke of classwork, skipping school, drag queens, and shopping. It was enough to lighten Opal’s mood and take her mind off of the things that had happened earlier that day. Heather didn’t ask, thank god, but if someone did ask, what was Opal going to say? She couldn’t tell people that the boy they initially thought just disappeared was actually murdered outside of school and that he spoke to her when she took his necklace off the ground. And if she did bring it up, people would think she was the murderer.  _ She _ had his necklace, and  _ she _ was the one who saw him last. The odds were not stacked in her favor.

Then again, they never were in the first place, were they?


	12. Polaroids

_ What was “prom”?  _

That was the only thing Opal was thinking as she carefully watched a few students buzz around, putting up posters with the word plastered everywhere in big, bright lettering- needless to say it was rather hard for her to miss considering their constant chattering and also the fact that they were almost stepping on the poor girl. Surely whatever the fuck this was couldn’t be that important. 

After about their fifth time on almost crushing Opal, she stood up and walked off somewhere else in hopes that she would find a friend or someone to ask about this whole prom thing, but the chances of that were slim considering class was in session right now. Richie had in-school suspension, Bonnibel never skipped class, Heather was with her own friends, and Jeff was sick at home for whatever reason. He looked perfectly fine yesterday, but maybe he caught a virus? Who knows. It was weird for him to miss school, but she didn’t want to bother him too much. 

A long sigh left her lips as she sat down outside of the building, up against the dirty brick exterior. Her fingers subconsciously moved to pull out a pack of cigarettes, one going in between her lips and being burned by the lighter her other hand held. The wind around her made it especially hard to get a light but she managed, putting her items to the side. She breathed another long sigh but froze.

“You know those are bad for you, right?” 

Opal rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, her gaze shifting from looking at nothing to looking at the translucent figure that was her dead friend. 

“Being dead is bad for you, too.” She commented, pulling her legs up to her chest. She didn’t give him a chance to reply to her last comment, instead moving onto the question that had been plaguing her for the last few minutes. 

“Hey, what’s a prom?” She asked, taking her cigarette out of her lips, smoke flooding out behind it. She didn’t get a chance to smoke much anymore due to her other friend’s distaste for it, since his mother happened to be an avid smoker, and well it was a bribe. She would stop smoking if he quit drinking.

The ghostly friend that was now beside her thought for a moment. How did she not know what prom was, and why on earth did she ask so weirdly? It took him a lot not to just begin laughing at the way she asked, and she could see that in his face- to which she tried to punch him in the shoulder and obviously that didn’t work with ghosts.

“What?!” Opal exclaimed, balling her fists up in frustration at him now freely laughing at her question and the fact that she missed his arm. 

Jesse slowed himself down and clutched his stomach, wiping the nonexistent tears from his eyes. “How do you  _ not _ know what prom is?” That was his question in turn, and his friend just took in another drag, letting the thick smoke fall from her nose. 

“I was homeschooled most of my life, this was the first real school I’ve ever been to, that’s how. Now are you gonna tell me or not?” That explained why he didn’t see her until this year, but he originally just blamed that on her being a freshman. That wasn’t necessarily the case, though. The blonde nodded at her question and sighed. “It’s a dance, which is pretty much a party for the whole school. There’s music and food and kids acting up. Prom is for the juniors and seniors, though. They get dressed up with dates, because you have to have a date to be able to go.” He explained the best he could. That’s what prom was essentially, but the look of confusion on her face afterwards made him nervous.

“So I can’t go?” The concept of prom being available to only one portion of the school was stupid to her, and the fact that you had to dress up and have a date was stupid… Then again, people are making a big deal out of it, so it must be serious, right? 

“If a junior or a senior asks you, then you can go.” He mentally sighed, looking over at the ground in front of him. “Actually, I—” Jesse went on, but before he knew it, Opal had gotten up and was walking away. That hurt more than it should’ve, but that was only because  _ he _ had planned to ask her himself. He wanted to take her to prom, so badly, and now he couldn’t because he died before he could get the chance.

That was what hurt the most.

His figure faded away and Opal clutched the chain that hung loosely around her neck, wracked with thought. 

_ Prom.  _

She found the idea of that to be so stupid and cliché but yet, so endearing. She wanted to go but she didn’t know what to do about that, she didn’t really know any upperclassmen and those that she did know were out of the question. Heather was probably going with someone else and Jesse was, you know, dead. Her forehead crinkled as she thought, subconsciously walking off school grounds, towards her home. She didn’t want to be here with all the thoughts in her head, she thought maybe if she walked, her worries would be left behind. It didn’t work last time, but maybe it would this time? 

Yeah, right. Tough luck. 

Opal’s steps slowly came to a halt and she sighed, her hands in her pockets and her back slouched over. These past days have made her so worried about the smallest things, like this. It wasn’t that big of a deal, she knew that, but she wanted to go and raise a little hell with someone. She wanted to grow closer to someone within a few hours and fall in love, like they did in the movies. She wanted the negativity to just go away and for her to feel love and positivity for once in her damned life. 

The anger, the frustration, the utter distress she was feeling was becoming too much for her to handle. Her blue eyes burned at the sunlight when her head tilted up to keep the buildup of tears from spilling out. She guessed she looked kind of crazy right now, looking up at the sky with an angry expression, but she didn’t care anymore. Opal lifted her hand up to wipe her cheeks and look around as she’d lost her bearings during her thoughts. She was still on the path home and she wasn’t far away, but there was a familiar house in front of her. 

The answer that had slipped her mind.

The brunette breathed in and held her breath for a moment before proceeding forward into the driveway that she’d been up many times before. She felt a little bad this time, though. Still, her personal wants overrode her empathy as always, and she stopped in front of the household door, ringing the doorbell and waiting.

In her mind, thoughts were going off like gunshots. If he was actually sick, then he shouldn’t be getting up to go answer the door. Why would he stay home from school if he wasn’t really sick? It must be serious. What if he was at the doctor and wasn’t home? It was taking a while for him to answer the door. 

Just as she was about to show herself off the property, the door opened and there stood Jeffrey, looking as healthy as ever. He wasn’t wearing his typical nice, proper school uniform but instead jeans and a plain white shirt, which she wasn’t used to at all. He looked nice in it, of course, but it was different from what she usually saw him wearing. Apparently she wasn’t saying anything, because his northern accented voice, or distinct lack of one, jolted her back to earth. 

“Opal. School’s out already?” He asked, wiping his forehead and adjusting his glasses. He knew damn well that the bell hadn’t rung yet, but he wouldn’t let her know that. She bought it, too. 

“No, I just…” She exhaled through her nose and crossed the fabric of her jacket over her body, shifting her weight from one leg to another. How did a person go about this? Boys usually asked girls and that was the end of that, those were the gender roles of the time-period and no one questioned them. Obviously, she didn’t fall under any of those, though, seeing as she didn’t behave or dress like most girls; this particular action just puzzled her a little.

“Prom’s really dumb, right?” Opal finally said, or rather asked. It was dumb to her but that didn’t mean she didn’t want to go.

Jeff didn’t know what to say. He honestly would like to go, but now hearing the way she thought, he supposed that would never happen. It wouldn’t have happened anyway, he was far too shy to ask her or anyone that he showed genuine interest in. It was fine, though. At least he didn’t have to worry about someone else asking her since she thought the idea was stupid… Even if he wanted to slow dance with her, feel her chest rising and falling against his, see her all dolled up, let’s not forget the things that happened after prom, either. Quickly, he cut that thought off before it went somewhere he didn’t want it to. Not here. Not in front of her. 

“Yeah.” The response he gave was simple, and he looked down while he waited for her to respond, hiding his hands so she couldn’t see the dried blood beneath his nails.

“Right,” Opal laughed and uncrossed the fabric of her jacket- the one he had given her. “We should totally go.”

That knocked the young man off balance immensely, but he didn’t show it except for the widening of his eyes and his lips parting, his mind swarming to find something to say. “Okay.” That was it, but it was still a response. A response that caused Opal to grin widely, which stirred a shy half-smile of his own. 

“Well, we can talk about this tomorrow, if you’re feelin’ better.” And she winked, signaling that she knew very well he wasn’t sick. Sick in the head maybe, but not physically. “See you later, prom date.” The brunette lazily waved and spun on her heels, walking over to her house like she had intended to in the first place. 

Almost as soon as his happiness about the situation started, so did the anxiety. Then came the thoughts flooding in. He shut the door behind him and walked back to where he had been, cleaning up after himself. In the kitchen sink sat a bloodied handsaw, and on the floor, two heavy garbage bags with a foul but sweet smell emitting from them. Jeffrey stood at the sink, letting the water run over the metal while his mind wandered back to prom, with Opal no less. How did he react to that? How did anyone react to that? He had wanted to go with her specifically but now that it happened, he didn’t know what he would do. There were so many “what if”s” that came about, he didn’t know what to do. What if she dumped him? What if it was a joke? What if he embarrassed himself? What if… what if something happens between them after prom? Not anything bad necessarily, but something that would force him to think over the very thoughts that haunted him day after day. 

They’d slow dance for a few hours, talk, end up leaving early because things got boring, and he’d laugh because that was typical of her to get bored quickly. They’d go back to his house and his parents wouldn’t be there as usual, his dad having only been there earlier to take pictures and get his son ready with the help of his girlfriend. They’d both go upstairs to his room, he’d explain why there were two beds and Opal would laugh. They would’ve drank a little beforehand, and so they would sit down to rest in their hazy slur. Being in a drunken state, she’d kiss him without thought and he’d kiss back, his tongue passing between her teeth, his hand resting against her thigh. Their clothes would be off in mere minutes, him having brought out handcuffs which she gladly let him snap onto her thin wrists. Many, many pictures would be taken then, so he could remember her like that forever, perfectly and only for his eyes, never mind those past boys or girls. He would pin her hands to the wall, the chain choking her pale throat- only she loved it, something was dripping along her pale thighs and—

The blonde groaned slightly when he caught himself day dreaming about such things, and he was even more unpleasantly surprised to find that an issue had arose and wouldn’t go away. He didn’t want to have to do that, he hated the fact that those violent thoughts were close to targeting Opal. Now that he would have her alone to himself for a whole night, those thoughts were even more volatile, seeing as just a few years ago when he lived in Ohio, he attempted to act out on a fantasy and knock a jogger unconscious. He didn’t want to do anything like that to her, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself. She was all he had at this point.

With a deep, pained sigh he walked away from his mess and turned to his room, slamming the door behind him. A small click came from the metal knob, signaling that it was locked, then came the jingling sound of a belt. His hands were shaking, but it was an impulse his body forced himself to act upon, him propping himself up against the wall with one hand and finishing his business with the other, all the while shaky breaths and quiet noises left his lips. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he closed off to a finish, his head resting against the wall in utter shame, his eyes shifting over to the many polaroid photos he’d taken of her over time. Some were of her doing something silly, others were of her just doing daily things, including sleeping, but all were beautiful. 

It was getting harder to control himself, and to think that Opal, his only friend, the only thing keeping him sane, was now intertwined into his sick fantasies was devastating to him. He couldn’t bear the thought of her being ripped away from him, especially not at his own hands. She was all he had.

He just wanted the thoughts to stop.


	13. Wasted Youth

“You know, you never did tell me why you were home so early yesterday, you haven’t really left school early ever since you moved in.” 

A sigh came from the pair of two teens, one of them visibly more exhausted than the other. She shrugged and looked up from the sidewalk that they were walking on to think of an answer to that question. 

“I wasn’t feeling well.” She said, looking over at the houses that were approaching as they got closer and closer to school and farther away from the densely wooded area that was their home.

The taller of the two put her arms out in defense, crossing them over her chest to make an “X”. “Woah, woah, didn’t you just finish being sick? I don’t wanna get sick because of you again, Opes.” Her brows furrowed in clear distress. She hated being sick, mostly because of the mass amount of work she had to make up once she returned… that and because she didn’t really get to see Will unless his mother allowed him to visit. 

“No, not physically… just… mentally I guess.” Opal’s stoic face never faltered, even at the prying weight on her shoulders from everything that’s happened so far. It was so stressful she felt it could’ve been killing her, but alas she stayed quiet; which Bonnibel noted, like most of her friends had the past few days. 

“You know,” Bonni began, combing a hand through her rose blonde hair, “I’m always here for you, Opal. If you wanna talk about it, we totally can.” That was fine and all, but how would she ever begin to describe what was happening to anyone? It sounded a bit familiar to another close friend’s life at this point.

Still, she shook her head, a hand reaching up to grasp at the pendant around her neck. “You wouldn’t understand.” That was the last thing she was able to say before they arrived at school and Bonnibel was, as usual, promptly whisked away by a short boy with green eyes. Her face had changed from worry to joy in that split moment when the boy’s arms wrapped around her, and she returned his affections.

The brunette watched and waved them off, a half smile spread across her face before leaving the area. She wasn’t able to see the clear flicker back to concern on her best friend’s face. It was best she didn’t, though.

As soon as she sat down, another familiar figure approached her and sat down beside her.

Was it that difficult to get any alone time here? 

“You’re going to prom with that Dahmer guy?” He asked, something in his voice hinting at displeasure, when in reality it was far more than just that. 

Opal’s eyes widened and she turned to meet the thick framed glasses on her friend’s freckled face. “Woah now, where the hell did you hear that from?” She exclaimed, now looking over the crowd of people waiting for the bell to ring. She couldn’t believe it! She didn’t say anything, and Jeffrey wasn’t much of a conversationalist, so how did people hear about it?

Richie shrugged, his expression frustrated and hurt all at the same time, which thoroughly confused Opal. “It’s been going around school this morning. Were you not going to tell me?” 

That confused her even more. Why did he even care where she was going? Sure, he was her friend and had the right to know, but it would’ve been nice for her to be able to tell him herself. “Is anything at this fucking school private? Why do you even care?” the fact that he was frustrated was making Opal feel the same way, which didn’t end up well seeing as both of their voices were slowly rising. It was too early in the morning for this and for fucks sake, she already had enough to deal with. 

The argument, if one could even call it that, was sort of escalating to the point that Richie’s ears were turning a red color. Why didn’t she tell him? That’s what hurt him the most, the fact that he had to find out about this by a slew of other people rather than from Opal herself. He was jealous. Jealous that he’d known her longer than Jeffrey Dahmer had, that they went out on what could be considered a date, and still she wanted to go to prom with him. Richie knew very well it was an upperclassman only thing, but it still bothered him to know that she would be going on some type of romantic thing with someone that, well, wasn’t  _ him _ . 

“Because I don’t trust that guy. With all that’s happened in that last few weeks, I have the right to be worried, too. Someone is fucking missing, what if you go missing, too? What if he tries to hurt you?” 

Maybe it would’ve been better if she did go missing, then at least she would be safe from all this drama that seemed to have stirred up when she arrived. Of course, she knew what he was referring to when he mentioned that a kid went missing, and she knew that missing wasn’t the correct term for the boy they were talking about. She couldn’t say that, though. 

“He’s gay, Richie.” She whispered. She didn’t want anyone else to know about the secrets he trusted her with, but she wanted Richie to stop worrying. “He isn’t going to try anything with me if that’s what you’re worried about.” Admittedly, he was a tad bit worried about that seeing as he was a boy, and so it was kind of embarrassing to see him calm down after she said that.

Still. 

He didn’t trust that guy. Was it because he had to compete for Opal’s attention with him? Sure. But he wouldn’t ever admit that to himself, it was much too personal, and he tried not to delve into his feelings too much. Though, Opal caught drift that he was jealous, and she felt bad. She had trouble evenly splitting her time with people nowadays. Hell, even her own housemate almost never saw her until they got home, so she could only imagine what Richie felt like. But she couldn’t just throw Jeff to the side like that, and she still needed to speak to Jesse for obvious reasons. 

Being a teenager was hard, especially under these conditions.

The British teen lifted a hand up and ruffled her friend’s curly locks before standing up. “Seriously, Rich. Don’t worry about me. If I survived the hard streets of London alone I can survive prom with an oddball. I promise. Then after that we can hang out like we used to.” She gave a weak smile, holding onto her bag’s strap with one hand, her hip cocked, and her body slightly slouched over. “I’ve just been thinking a lot lately and I’m dealing with some personal stuff. It’ll take some time for me to be back to myself, but I’ll get there with your help.” 

He nodded. She had been extremely off the past few days, and he noted that. He wanted to know what was wrong, he wanted to make her feel better, but he knew this was something he’d just have to wait out, as much as he hated the fact that he couldn’t help her like he wanted to. “Right.” The tall, lanky boy smiled after having been reassured. At least she admitted there was something wrong; he just wished he knew what. 

Did it have something to do with him? Did he do something wrong? Or maybe it was the disappearance of that boy from the senior class. He didn’t think they were very close, he never saw Opal talk to him at all. She’d never said anything about him to Richie, but the same could be said about Jeffrey. He didn’t like that she was keeping so many things from him. He wanted to know, he wanted to help so badly. 

He  _ loved _ her.

The bell eventually rang, and hundreds of kids all piled into the high school building. It was obviously much too small to be housing that many kids, really. The classrooms were full, the cafeteria was packed, and the hallways felt like walking through a wormhole at times. It almost reminded Opal of her own thoughts at the moment. Filled, wall-to-wall with no space left for any leisurely thoughts. 

She wondered how she got here, sitting in the library alone, reading books on the human mind, what could cause a person to go haywire, the dark corners of psychology. Things like that made her think of what went wrong in her life. Why were things so stressful now? The only pity she had left for herself dealt with the fact that she was too cowardly to put a gun to her head and pull the trigger. That would’ve ended all of her problems right then and there, and it would prevent any new ones from arising.

But no. 

Opal was a coward. 

It had always been that way, ever since she was a child. She was too much of a coward to stand up to her parents, too much of a coward to stand up to her brother, and she was too much of a coward to get some help. She didn’t want others to know about her past, the gloom that surrounded her on a daily basis. The very things she preached, she ignored when it came to herself. 

“Whatcha reading?” 

Opal didn’t answer for a little while, only after she finished up her page did she look up at the ghostly figure that was Jesse. “Psychology shit. I like reading about how fucked up people can be and what kind of stuff lands them there. You know, Charles Manson, John Wayne Gacy, Ed Gein. Seems they all have childhood trauma and stuff like that. The usual negligent parents, abuse, early exposure to violence. Most of it is the need for power and to have control over something, because they didn’t have control over their own lives, or so it seems. They also have a lack of self-control and seem to be predominantly males with suppressed aggression. Of course, a lot of that I’m just spit-balling. They have a bunch of similarities and that’s what I’m going with.” She explained, flipping to the next page. Even if she didn’t enjoy the classes she was forced to take, she was incredibly passionate about this. She even wanted to be a prison psychologist once she graduated. She wanted to speak with psychopaths and murderers, she wanted to play cards with them and treat them like normal people. They were humans, after all. No worse than Opal herself. 

Jesse had his head in his lap, his arms crossed over it and his shoulders hunched forward. Listening intently as she spoke. She seemed to be passionate about that subject, which he admired. It was cute to see her so enamored by something as scientific as the criminal mind. That, and pretty much everything she said made sense- which was impressive to say the least. “Ah, so are you doing this for fun or do you want to get away with murder?” The brunet grinned at his joke, picking his head back up to connect with the rest of his body. He crossed his legs over the hard wood of the table and leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees.  

“Maybe a little bit of both. I mean you know what they say, first rule of murder is to have fun and be yourself, right?” She joked back, only with her normal monotone voice and a slight smile. “Anyway, anything you needed?” 

The ghost chuckled at her little joke, or at least he hoped it was a joke, before answering. “So, you’re going to prom?” This was the second time someone had asked her today, and even so it was still getting annoying. But she didn’t let him know that. She just sighed and placed her head in the book she’d been reading. 

“How did  _ you _ find out?”

“Oh, the necklace. I can see in it.” He explained in a matter-of-fact tone, but eventually decided to explain further once he saw the confusion on Opal’s face. “That necklace you’re wearing was mine, but I kinda lost it. I sorta live in it now, it’s like my house. I can see and hear everything that goes on outside of it, which is how I knew you asked someone to prom. I didn’t see his face, though, you were too short.” 

Opal, for the sake of her taking in yet another bit of information, ignored that last part about her height. Instead she focused on the whole of what he had just said. “So, your necklace is possessed.”

“Yeah.”

“By you?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Oh my god.” She sighed, once again sinking back into her open book. There was so much already going on and then this she’s just now finding out about? Things were getting ridiculous. 

_ Wait a minute _ .

“You said you see everything that happens outside of the necklace, right?” Jesse nodded, shifting his position a little bit. A look of realization hit her face and her cheeks turned a sort of pink. Her eyes narrowed at him and she threw a book she wasn’t using in his direction. It wouldn’t have hit him, but he jumped and moved out of the way from sheer instinct that was still left over from him living.

“What was that for?!” He asked frantically, his eyes wide from the panic that book flying towards him had caused. What on earth did he do? All he said was that he possessed his own necklace, that she had decided to take from the spot where he was killed. What was the big deal?

“You sodding pervert!” The brunette yelled in her heavy British lingo. He could’ve assumed what that word meant in London, and he could’ve also assumed she would’ve killed him if he weren’t already dead. But he still didn’t understand why she was acting so violently towards him-

_ Oh. _

A darker color formed on his cheeks as well at the realization of what she was hinting at. He said he could see everything outside of the necklace, which meant he could see what she saw and hear what she heard, including when she wasn’t in school. Jesse put his hands up in defense, an embarrassed expression coming onto his face to match the way his voice sounded.

“I would never! You got it all wrong, Opal—” Another book thrown in his direction. How was the librarian not kicking Opal out yet? She probably wasn’t in the room, but if she was, she would’ve called the mental hospital a long time ago because to anyone else, it would’ve looked like she was yelling and throwing books at nothing. Clearly that wasn’t the case, though.

“You’re such a liar!” 

“I-I’m not  _ that _ bad, I swear! I cover my eyes!”

Even  _ I _ don’t know if he’s telling the truth, and I’m the narrator for fuck’s sake. 


	14. Teen Idle

That day that Opal had gotten in huge trouble for her physically assaulting those two bullies was a day that could be remembered by most. Whether it be a fond, comical memory or a memory full of not so much regret, but rather disdain, most people who were there remembered it one way or another. Among the people who had been surrounding the scene, there was a tall, muscular boy by the name of Jesse McAllister. He had been speaking with his friends when the fight broke out, if one would even call it a fight. Once his silver eyes met the oh-so spoken of Opal Audrey Bellis, his death certificate had been signed, and her name was the signature on the dotted line. Never in his life had he seen a girl so headstrong, so willing to stand up for herself let alone for another girl. It was quite the sight, even if his two friends didn’t quite approve of the way he was looking at the fight, one a bit more disapproving than the other for reasons she shared only with the other female- one that Jesse was completely oblivious to. He remembered this fondly, the first time he’d fallen for someone at a glance. 

From that moment on, he would talk quietly amongst his friends and himself, usually gushing about the freshman girl, much to their annoyance.

“It’s like she’s all you talk about anymore.”

“Because she is.”

“Have you even met her in person?”

“Like actually gone up and talked to her?”

Those statements proved to be true, and the questions came up as a big, fat negative. He hadn’t actually talked to her, he was kind of nervous about the whole thing. She was pretty intimidating after all. However, there comes a time when a man must face his fears, and that came a few months after, in English class. Despite hardly showing up for class, Opal had made it into the senior English class, the same class Jesse was in. It wasn’t hard to understand how he could’ve missed her presence before; she was always skipping or showing up late. But by sheer luck, she had come to class the day a group project was assigned- the same day she had been assigned to a group with Jesse no less. It was exciting! For him at least. For Opal? Not so much. She wished she would’ve waited a few days before showing up to class so she didn’t have to do this dumb project, but alas now it was assigned and if she didn’t participate then her group members might actually come to her house and murder her. And that wouldn’t be good. She was saving her death for herself when she worked up the courage. 

Few words were exchanged between the pair, mostly due to Opal not being one for conversation. Still, it was enough to make the steel-eyed boy’s heart flutter and another boy, farther across the room, his heart grew cold. Even the slightest interactions they shared: passing papers, commenting on parts of the project, small words of praise and encouragement… it was crazy how that could be so wonderful for one person and mean death for the other. Especially those one-sided attempts at flirting. However, after the project had been finished, Jesse didn’t hear from Opal very often. Maybe a wave in the hallway but nothing worth noting, much to his disappointment. 

So, he decided to take matters into his own hands. 

At lunch, he sat outside with his two buddies Wyatt and Olive to discuss his plan. It wasn’t much of a plan, but it was still something. 

“I want to ask Opal out to prom.” Those little eight words were enough to start a chain reaction, unbeknownst to him. First, his friends. Wyatt was fine with it, she didn’t have much an opinion on that, but Olive was a bit unhappy with this. She wanted to go to prom with Jesse, she always had but of course, things don’t work out as well as she would like them to. Next, a nearby figure heard of the plan because it’s not like they were being particularly quiet over there. This figure was feeling similar to how Olive was, only to the extreme. Blood rushed, and cogs turned in his head. What could he do? Well, the only thing he knew would work for sure. The same thing he had been warned against doing by said girl. 

Something that would no doubt end up very, very badly. 

There, a new plan was being forged. Only this time it was a bit more sinister than the plan Jesse had made. And by a bit, I mean a metric fuckton. First, he needed to find Opal, which wasn’t a difficult task seeing as she was only in a handful of places at any given time. Once that was done, he forced himself to recall other bits and pieces of the conversation he’d heard and not just focus on the one that angered him. It was so, so hard not to lose his temper, but he managed. 

“Jesse’s going to the Arcade Palace after school. You should go, too.” 

This earned a confused look from the brunette. How did he know this? Why should she go?

“He’s been having trouble at home. I-I thought it would be nice if you asked him to hang out.” He explained quickly and nervously, which Opal paid no mind to. This boy in particular had always spoken like this and so she didn’t see anything out of the norm other than him thinking about someone else. It was odd to say the least, but eventually she nodded slowly. “Alright, thanks for letting me know. I’ll be there.” The short girl nodded and then he walked off, leaving her as confused as she was in the beginning. 

But he had more work to do. 

Jesse was walking away from his friends at the time, which was the perfect opportunity for him to move in.

“Jesse, right?”

“Uh, Yeah. What’s up?”

“You like that girl Opal in our English class, huh?”

The tall brunette was stunned, and he froze for a few seconds. Was it that obvious? Did he overhear him? He was nervous now, but he couldn’t deny anything. He wasn’t one for lying. 

“Yeah, kinda. Why?”

Perfect. That was just the response he’d been looking for to carry out this sick, evil plan. He couldn’t believe he was doing this, he was going against Opal’s own word. But… he was doing this to protect her.

That’s what he told himself to make this sound justified in his head.

“She’s going to the Arcade Palace today after school. She’s been wanting to ask you to hang out and she’ll try to do it then. If you go. She probably won’t say a time, but she likes to meet people at midnight usually.”

That was the most he’d spoken in quite a while, and he can’t say he liked it. Especially not when doing something like this or talking to someone like  _ him _ .

Jesse’s eyes widened at that, and he smiled. “Oh man, really? I was planning to go there after school anyway, but I guess now I have to go.” He chuckled, and this caused an awkward half-laugh to come from the other male. 

_ “Thanks, Jeff.” _

_ Silence. _

His plan was in action.

Later on, that day, things went as expected. Both Opal and Jesse went over to the Arcade Palace after school and Opal approached him with a proposition to hang out, not giving any specified dates. Bonnibel, Wyatt, and Olive all stood back and watched the exchange, some more annoyed than others. Opal promptly walked out of the arcade after that and went back home. She figured when Monday came, she would talk to him and make plans to hang out then.

She never said anything about hanging out today, after all. 

On the other end, Jesse finished up a few games late into the night before he and his friends disbanded to their respectable homes. When he got home, he said hello to his mother and gave her a big hug. They sat down and ate dinner together before he went to go shower and freshen up, and to his mother’s knowledge, he was showering and then going to bed. But when the clock hit a quarter til’ twelve, he snuck out his front door and walked back to the place he’d been mere hours beforehand. She said she wanted to hang out by the log, so that’s where he went. It’s where she always hung out with Jeffrey and sometimes another freshman. 

It was starting to get cold outside as the minutes passed by. He checked his watch and it was thirty minutes past twelve. It was dark, and he could hardly see anything. Soon enough, he heard the crunching of leaves approaching behind him. He grinned and turned around only to be met with the sharp glare of glasses met with the bright light of the moon.

Everything faded to black. 

Come Monday, it was revealed that Jesse McAllister had gone missing and no traces of his location had been found.

Even now, he’s still gone. 

Heavy breathing.

That’s what Opal had woken up to. Her pale skin was covered in small droplets of sweat, and she had sprung up in the dim lighting of her room. It was early morning and clearly, she had been woken up by something. A bad dream. But she couldn’t quite remember what happened for her to be scared awake like that. 

She glanced down and found that her hand was clutching Jesse’s necklace again, and she could feel the rapid beating of her heart beneath her chest. It was unsettling. So much so that Bonnibel had walked in to see what was going on and after catching a glimpse of her sister’s fear-stricken state, she rushed beside her bed to comfort her.

With one hand on her back and the other propping herself up, she spoke. “Something told me to wake up and I’m glad I did. What happened?” the blonde asked, concern clear as day in her voice. Things like this normally didn’t happen to her, and so it worried Bonnibel that her sister was acting so strange lately. Maybe it was her turn to go through something, like the rest of their group had.

Opal panted and struggled to catch her breath, shaking her head. “I don’t remember. It was just a bad dream, but it was  _ really _ bad…” she tried, reaching a hand up to comb through her bangs and feel the cold sweat on her head. Her eyes glanced down for a second, and they caught sight of something strange in which Opal hadn’t noticed before.

A small tattoo on Bonni’s arm that read “010”. It seemed Bonni noticed that she noticed, because her expression changed from one of concern to one of dread. She tried to withdraw her arm, but it was too late, the damage was done and her secret she’d been able to hide in plain sight for so long was out in the open. 

Opal knew that there was something more to this boring little sleepy town than she’d been led on to believe. There was talk of a gate being closed, mentions of multiple people gone missing, reports that sounded horror movie-esque. She was well aware that her friends were keeping things from her, and it didn’t bother her.

Until now.

Now that everything was piling up and starting to crush her, she needed to know what the hell was going on, even if it only solved a little piece of the puzzle or none at all. She wanted to know what the rest of the kids knew.

She was tired of being protected like some kind of innocent baby. She had gone through just as much as they had, maybe even more. She’d lived through betrayal by her own brother night after night. She lived through her neglectful parents, she lived through sleeping around and doing awful things, just so she wouldn’t have to go home to the place where she was supposed to feel safe and secure. She lived through the weight of loneliness in her chest, growing over the years despite how many lovers she obtained. She lived through the loss of innocence at the prime age of eight by the one who she thought she could trust. She lived through knowing the world was a filthy place and she was just another piece of garbage waiting to be thrown out.

She lived through never being able to feel safe. 

She deserved to know just as well as any of the other kids did.

Bonnibel knew that, too. She knew Opal was tough and all, and that she could handle whatever truth was thrown at her, but she hated speaking about her own past almost as much as Opal did- let alone explaining everything that happened in its entirety. She didn’t want Opal to view her differently, either. 

“Bons.” came Opal’s voice.

“Yeah?” she already knew what was coming, but she decided to answer back anyway, looking down into the brunette’s wide, serious gaze.

“I want you to tell me everything.” The tone she used was almost frightening, but it was still calm.

And just as calmly, Bonnibel sighed deeply, turning her head away. She couldn’t handle this all alone, and besides. There was much more to the whole story than just her side. She needed backup. A few other narrators. 

“I’ll call the others over. We’ll tell you everything.”


	15. Secrets

It took Opal quite a while to digest everything, like it would any normal person. The monsters, the aliens, the clowns, alternate dimensions… it was a lot, even for her. It was also difficult coming to face the fact that her sister was a human experiment who was almost killed. It was hard to hear that there were more of her out there, for instance, Mike’s girlfriend. She turned out to be the experiment after Bonnibel. Her real name was Jane while Bonni didn’t even know her real name. It hurt to listen to her describe her times at the Hawkins Lab and her experiences in the place the boys called “the upside-down”. It hurt just the same to listen to listen to the Derry crew’s story. The clown, the terror, the broken arm. They said he’d be back in twenty-seven years, but they wouldn’t be there to see it unless it followed them here.

But that was preposterous, right?

The kids were just happy that things were over for them at the moment. They were content with sitting in Bonnibel’s attic in a circle, the couples holding each other while they recounted their stories, friends holding each other’s hands tightly. It was hard to relive, even if it wasn’t physically. Sometimes there are wounds that never really heal- these were some of them. 

Opal felt horrible to say the least, and she felt even worse that she now knew everything about them, but they knew nothing about her. 

She looked down at her hands and sighed, wringing her fingers nervously. It didn’t take a genius to see that there was clearly something going on with Opal, and with that being said, a whole slew of  “what’s wrong”s and “are you okay”s erupted from the large group. Like usual, she stayed silent for a while. Then, she came around.

“I feel…bad. Like I’m not being completely honest. You’ve all told me your stories, but it’s not fair until I share mine, right?” Her pale blue eyes glanced around at each one of her beloved friends before she continued. “So. I think that’s what I need to do. I’m tired of there being secrets regarding our lives, so allow me to put an end to that. I’ve never told anyone else these things before, and now I guess I’ll finally be able to breathe.” She nodded to herself and blew out a long breath, her eyes closing for a moment before she opened them back up. “Listen closely, guys. This is gonna be a long one.”

“You remember when you were little, and you used to think that there were monsters hiding in the closet? Maybe under the bed? Well, for me, my monster slept in the room across from mine. I was eight years old, and so much different than I am now. People change when they get older, but they don’t change this much. I have a reason for that, though. The reason being that the one person I could trust ruined me. My brother and I are twins. We shared mostly everything, including appearances. We were nearly identical other than the fact that we were opposite genders, but you get the point. It felt like it was us against the world and it was fun for a while. Then it was almost comical. He found our father’s stash of photographs and decided that he wanted to do what they were doing because it seemed fun. He said it was what people who loved each other did, and that we loved each other.” Opal focused her gaze on the window leading outside as the others listened in horror, anger, and disgust. 

“I struggled. But he was stronger than me.”

“I felt like I had died at that moment in time, and I felt empty. My soul, my innocence left me a hollow shell from that point on. It happened again. And again. And again. Even now I can still feel his hands on me. It was inescapable, being in an upper-class family, my parents were able to get away with those things easily. I was forbidden to go outside, but at age ten I decided that I could do whatever I wanted. I started sneaking out at night, and the amount of time I would stay wandering the streets of London became longer and longer until I wasn’t coming home for weeks on end, which was perfect in my eyes. By the age of twelve I had gone through what most adults haven’t. I had worked at illegal clubs, I had performed, I have had multiple accounts of alcohol poisoning, I was fully addicted to nicotine, and I had been hospitalized more than once. I never knew why I was in the hospital when I woke up, but it would usually end with me pulling the IV out of my arm and trying to run away before they called my parents. It worked most of the time, while other times I had to be tracked down and taken home by police officers only to escape again. It was a harsh life out there on the streets. I had stopped eating and the only nutrition I was getting was from the mass amounts of alcohol I consumed. Then I caught news that we were moving here, and I tried to run away for good, so I could be on my own forever…but the police found me each and every time until I was physically stuffed in the car. Things changed only a little when I first moved here. I still snuck out, but there wasn’t much to do. I still wasn’t eating, I still drank and smoked, my brother continued to come into my room at night…” Her small hands rubbed her arms, and her gaze fell back down to her lap. “Until I met Bonnibel. It was only for a moment and I thought nothing of it. My habits continued well into starting school, but slowly they faded. Most of them at least. I met friends, I had a home, I finally felt safe.” Her eyebrows furrowed, and she looked up, a half-smile on her cheeks. 

“I finally feel safe.”

The kids were all mixed in emotion by the end of that long, devastating story. Some had been crying, others were holding themselves or each other, but all of them felt the same feeling of pity, even if Opal didn’t want anyone to pity her at all. Her troubles in life made her stronger.

She was a survivor, not a victim. 

Soon enough, she was engulfed in the arms of about fifteen kids her age. It was a pretty picture to behold. The unlucky sixteen kids crowded around in a big pile, hugging each other. It felt bittersweet to Opal, the silence furthering that feeling. 

The only things that they said afterwards consisted of “I’m so sorry.” She shook her head at that and laughed softly, despite all that they had just discussed. 

“Don’t be. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without it. It’s a part of me. I’ve kind of learned to embrace it, even if it does hurt sometimes. You have to be strong for yourself if no one else is going to be strong for you.”

“Opal, what are you talking about?” Bonnibel piped up once they’d all gotten back into their general spots they’d been sitting in. “You don’t have to fight the world alone. I’m there with you, you know. Always.”

She looked up, slightly shocked. “Really?”

Then, surprisingly Richie finally spoke up for once in the past forty-five minutes. It was rare for him not to say something for so long, and strange at that. “No shit. We losers have to stick together, right?” 

“Right.” A red-headed girl across the room smiled. Her name was Beverly.

Then came Jane, or rather, Eleven. And then Mike. Then Bill. Then Ben. The other Mike, Lucas, Max, Dustin, Will, Stanley, Eddie, and of course, Bonnibel. 

Turns out she didn’t have to fight the world alone. Not anymore. She had a whole group of friends that supported her and loved each other. They’d gone through so much in so little time, which was enough to forge a strong bond with each other. 

They called themselves the Loser’s Party.


	16. "V" is for "Vendetta"

“Opal, you like psychology, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I read somewhere that people used to give kids toy cigarettes with the brand name on it so when they got older, they’d smoke the real thing from their company because they remember it fondly from childhood.”

“It’s called brand imprinting and that’s why when I drive by a fast food restaurant I’m going to punch my kid in the face.”

The red car that belonged to Heather Chandler erupted in laughter at the harsh words that exited Opal’s lips. It was ironic to hear her say something like that because she had mentioned many times before that she in no way wanted children in her life at all, but of course the girls in the back seat decided to take things further in a joking manner. 

“Oooooo, you know what you have to do to have kids, Opal. Who’s gonna be the lucky man? Richie?” Beverly asked with a snicker.

What she was implying sort of weirded Bonnibel out, but she decided to get in on the joke, too. She was a part of this group after all. “Or Jeffrey?”

Eleven, or Jane, didn’t know anyone outside of their little circle, so she stayed as quiet as she could be with laughing- even though she had no idea what they meant by any of this. She was still fairly innocent, and most of the kids wanted to keep her that way.

Heather was about to chime in with another name, but she stopped herself when she remembered the person who held that name had disappeared out of thin air. 

You see, even after Opal told the loser’s party and the rest of her friends her story, she left out what was going on in the present, so she didn’t tell anyone that Jesse was in fact dead, not just missing. She couldn’t tell people that. She had to keep that one secret between her and Jesse and the murderer, whoever that may be.

It didn’t matter at this very second, though. 

The five girls pulled up to the nearest shopping mall, just a little while outside of Hawkins since it was such a small town. A bunch of people, namely the younger folks, found it to be quite a pain in the ass to have to drive out of town just to get to a shopping mall for clothes. Talk about a huge waste of gas. The older folks didn’t mind, though, they liked their small little quiet town.

Hah. Quiet was a funny word to use to describe Hawkins, wasn’t it?

“Alright, ladies, heads out of the gutter, we’ve got shopping to do.” Heather interrupted their school-girl giggling and therefore saved Opal from the awkward situation. Of course, they would joke about that, people usually did joke about girls who had guy friends, but they would always be that.

Just friends.

Right?

The five girls piled out of the car and the eldest promptly locked it before going on her way, the other four girls trailing behind like ducklings following their mother. It was weird seeing someone like Heather Chandler, a huge bitch at school, do something so nice as to take Opal along with her friends out to go shopping for her prom dress. Even if it was a few months away, Heather told her it was best to shop super early, so she got first picks. And Heather being Heather, had already gotten her prom dress months prior because she knew she was going to get asked out. She always does. 

It didn’t take long for them to find the store they needed. The best store, in said blonde’s opinion, and resulting in the most expensive. She sent them off to go look for dresses and such, figuring that they’d cover more ground if multiple of them went to different racks. It worked, but none of the girls quite knew Opal’s style like, well, herself. 

Bonni would come back with frilly, girly things while Heather would come with something a little too scandalous. El attempted to look for formal clothes but everything she picked up seemed a bit outdated. Beverly’s style was closest to Opal’s, and even then, it was a bit too tomboyish. She needed to pick these out herself, but she didn’t have the heart to tell them that she didn’t like their dresses. 

So, hours of trying on different dresses later, she stumbled upon something on a rack, buried in lines of other dresses. It was long, flowy, and white. The top part was fitted with an off the shoulder neckline and below the bust a silver belt.

Gently, she took it in her hands and called together all of her friends to the dressing room, where she locked herself inside and stripped down. Once she was physically trying to get the dress on, she noticed something odd. That instead of a straight cylinder of fabric going down like normal dresses had, there were two. 

“Hm?” Opal was confused. She hadn’t seen any dresses like this before, and once she put it on, she was sure it wasn’t actually a dress. It was a very formal satin jumpsuit, which she didn’t realize when she picked it out of the rack. It looked just like a dress when she stood with her legs closed, but when she opened them it was very clear that this wasn’t a dress. Still, she liked it. It was unique, and she felt like no one else had anything like this, which made her feel more confident as she walked out with the garment on.

Gentle “oooo”s and “ahhhh”s came from the group of girls once Opal stood in her place outside of the dressing room door. 

“It’s very avant-garde Paris fashion. I like it, you look like a runway ready model…minus the hair and lack of makeup.” Heather moved her hands as she spoke for emphasis, eventually placing one on her hip while she studied the garment.

“Aww! You look so pretty, Opal.” Came the red-headed girl known as Beverly Marsh. The only red-head in the group at the moment, since dress shopping was in no way Max’s thing. 

Beverly walked over to Opal’s much, much shorter figure to give her a hug, laughing a little under her breath. “I kinda wish I was a senior so I could’ve asked you to prom.” Now, Opal didn’t know if she was joking or not, but a light pink began to sting her cheeks. Laughing nervously at the situation, she looked away and crossed her arms bashfully. Clearly, girls made her feel a certain kind of way. 

The taller girl laughed at her display and ruffled her hair, muttering something along the lines of “cutie” not really under her breath because she wasn’t trying to hide it, but quietly. 

“Seriously, you look like a princess! I like it a lot. It suits you. Kinda weird but really elegant and pretty.” 

“Gee, thanks, Bons.” She gave a lop-sided grin at her sister’s words, and a laugh at El softly punching her in the shoulder because she knew that might’ve come out a little rude. Even she knew that- and she didn’t start speaking full sentences until a few years ago. 

“Ow, Jane…”

“Don’t be rude. She looks pretty.”

“I was joking!”

“… Oh.”

Yeah, she still didn’t quite understand how joking works, the whole not taking everything so literal or serious thing. She was doing pretty good for learning new things, though.

“Well I guess this is a winner? I’ll go take it off, so we can ring her up.” Opal smiled a little before turning back to go get dressed again.

She got inside and leaned against one of the walls, looking at herself in the mirror, her brows furrowing. She wondered if the girls were just saying these nice things because they felt bad for her, for what she’d told them. She didn’t want them to pity her like that. She didn’t need their pity. Opal wanted to hear the truth and nothing but the truth, she deserved it after all she’s been through, and she could handle it. She may have looked frail, but she knew she wasn’t as fragile as people made her out to be.

Suddenly, she felt lightheaded. Her hand grasped for her necklace and took in a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them. She felt the blood leave her lips, almost like she was suffocating. She could now tell that there was little to no color left in her, and she slumped over, utterly unable to stop the loud sound of sloshing blood in her ears. What was happening? She didn’t understand, nothing like this had happened to her before, so why now? She was locked in here, no one could get to her if anything happened and…

_ Darkness.  _

Then a sudden burst of light, a jolt back to consciousness. 

Every word that had entered her ears felt jumbled and foggy, like whoever was speaking to her wasn’t human. This feeling only lasted a few minutes, though, and she was able to hear familiar voices around her, in a panic. Why were they worried? What happened?

“Oh my god, is she dead?” Came a male voice, clearly a little more worried than the rest, probably overreacting if she had an idea on who it was. She couldn’t tell half the time because he had a brother or some shit.

“Pretty much.” Opal finally said, opening her eyes to see the boy she thought it was. Yeah, that was him alright.

“Opal! What the fuck?! You fainted at that stupid store and they had to bring you home.” The way he was speaking was animated as always, but now he seemed a little more worried than usual- kind of like he had been a few days ago.

“Where’s your brother?” She decided to fuck with him, despite just waking up from a miniature comatose. 

He looked confused and scrunched up his face to match the emotion. “Brother? I don’t have a brother. Why the fuck does that matter right now—”

“Yeah you do, Mike’s your brother, isn’t he?”

“You ask this every other day and it never gets funnier.  _ No _ , Mike is not my brother. I’d know.”

“Oooooh.” Opal nodded in mock surprise, or realization, as if he hadn’t told her the same thing over and over again for the past few months. Which admittedly frustrated Richie a lot, causing him to rub his face beneath his glasses, a grunt escaping his lips.

“Why can’t you be serious this  _ one _ time? I’m  _ worried _ about you, dammit.” Richie groaned and looked back up at Opal, who was staring at the dress she’d picked out, neatly hung over her closet door. She assumed the rest of the people that were here had left, and so that was why Richie was sitting here.

It occurred to her then that she was in fact in her bed again, and so she sat up a little to look at the exasperated boy sitting at the edge of her bed, obviously having some kind of personal war with himself. He said he was worried, and that he wanted her to be serious for once. She’d never heard him say anything like that before, he was always so lighthearted and fun and now he looked…broken. She didn’t like to see him like that, and it was the same vice-versa. 

“Hey, Rich, what’s wrong?” She finally spoke up, laying her arms beside her on the bed, her expression softening.

She certainly didn’t expect him to respond the way he did, but she learned to stop expecting things to go her way at a young age. She knew that by now. 

“I can’t fucking protect anyone for shit. Everyone always ends up getting hurt one way or another when I’m around, no matter how hard I try. When that stupid fucking clown was terrorizing us, I couldn’t protect my friends. Some of them even have permanent scars now because of me! I thought things would be better when we all moved here, but obviously I was wrong. I couldn’t protect my new friends, either. And now? I can’t even protect you. I always just fuck things up and make everything worse, I-I don’t understand why no matter how hard I try to save everyone, I just can’t. I guess I am a failure, just like dad said.” He breathed in and shook his head. It wasn’t like Opal would understand any of what he’d just said, not when she was on the other side of things. Not when she didn’t know the whole story, his whole truth. 

“You don’t have to save everyone, you know. That’s impossible. Keeping everyone else safe and just neglecting yourself? That isn’t—”

“What? It isn’t healthy? You’re the one to fucking talk! You just passed out in public because you don’t fucking eat! You go around not giving a single shit that it hurts everyone else to see you do these things to yourself, it doesn’t bother you at all, and that’s selfish.” He stood up and brushed through his tangled curls, the red on his face becoming brighter and brighter as his voice raised. 

“You can’t just act like no one fucking cares, because  _ I _ do, okay?!” His voice cracked, and a few tears streamed down his freckled cheeks. 

Now he truly did seem broken, and Opal could see that clearly. He wasn’t okay. He was insecure, and he hated himself for so many reasons, one of them being that he couldn’t protect her from herself. He was so angry and hurt that she didn’t care that he cared. It wasn’t entirely true, though. She cared, she was just too selfish to acknowledge that she was hurting others besides herself. 

“You know what? Fuck this.” He muttered, wiping his cheeks with the back of his hand. He spun around on his heel and began to head for the door, but it didn’t feel right to just let her friend walk off like that. She couldn’t after he had comforted her so many times, after he cared for her so dearly. 

She wouldn’t let him just walk away. 

So, she didn’t. 

Opal quickly stood up from her bed and rushed over, her thin arms wrapping tightly around his body. Even if she was still weak from fainting, she had enough strength to do just this one thing. 

“I care about you, too, Richie. I’m sorry that I never show it, there’s no excuse for that. I should be as good of a friend to you as you are to me and I’m so happy to have you by my side.” She said quietly, closing her eyes when she felt his arms wrap around her in return, his head resting on her shoulder while he continued to cry silently. 

He knew she cared about him. That wasn’t the issue.

She just didn’t care about him in the same way he did her.

  
  
  


_ “I love you, Richie.” _


	17. Girls Your Age

_ Every person is capable of murder. The only thing that differs is the motive _ . 

Opal knew that for sure, and it didn’t take a psychology book to teach her that. How she knew was from pure personal experience.

She had been laying on her bed, a sweaty, disheveled mess left behind by her brother who had just exited the room. Her body ached so badly, it physically hurt to move, to feel tomorrow’s new bruises burning into her pale skin. It hurt more than anyone could imagine. 

Still, she stood up and walked over to her mirror, her body twisting and limping in an uncomfortable way as she did so. 

As she looked into the mirror, she began to fix her bra strap and her hair, quickly wiping a few tears away as soon as she noticed them falling. They were so common to her nowadays that sometimes they’d go unnoticed until they dripped onto the concrete alleyway while she was hunched over, vomiting from alcohol poisoning. 

The more she studied herself, the more she spotted past bruises and scars, the more she noticed how similar she looked to  _ him _ , and the more disgusted she felt. Her face scrunched up as the tears steadily fell into hot streams down her flushed cheeks, and her knuckles clenched painfully due to her fingernails stabbing at the flesh of her palm. Her whole body trembled. She was so angry, so repulsed at what the mirror reflected back she couldn’t stand it. 

Her fist collided with the glass, shattering the mirror while leaving broken shards in her bloodied hand. Her other hand grasped around her stomach and bony ribcage while her blue eyes met the crimson leaking out onto the floor. Even so, it hurt less than what she was feeling emotionally. 

Opal collapsed onto her knees, huddling up to her bed, still in front of the mirror. With her bleeding hand, she reached for the biggest shard of glass she could find and held it, letting the homicidal thoughts flow like the tears from her eyes. When she looked back into the mirror, her eyes held pure hatred. 

She held the glass firmer, the pain passing unnoticed.

Did she want to kill herself, or her brother? 

 

Sharp breath penetrated Opal’s lungs, her train of thought breaking back into reality. 

She was looking down at the faint scars on her hand that only she could notice anymore. She had taken a small break from the world and locked herself into the bathroom with her half-finished bottle of liquor that had the word ‘water’ scrawled onto the glass with a black permanent marker.

Outside of that door was a bustling, bumbling party full of teenage nerds that for once, wasn’t Opal’s idea. Bonnibel felt a little bad for never being able to celebrate her birthday, even after she’d been told it was fine, so she threw her sister a birthday party that was about six months too late while their parents were away, much to Opal’s dismay. She was in no state to be partying, it reminded her too much of the old days where she would do anything to try to not feel like a hollow, walking shell.

Performing in clubs? Done.

Performing in gay clubs? Done.

Dressing in male drag and becoming one of the club patrons? Done. 

Nothing had a lasting effect on her, and so when she moved here, she gave up on trying, but once she found a group of friends, duller versions of the long-lost feelings reappeared and then they were quickly taken away a few months ago, so now she was back at square one it seemed. 

She looked at the blurred reflection in front of her for a moment longer before unlocking the bathroom door and slinking back to the party. No one noticed she had gone because they were all preoccupied, as they should’ve been. She could only faintly make out who was who and even then, she had a difficult time noting their distinct features. She was very, very drunk.

Opal backed herself into a corner and slid down, taking in another mouthful of straight liquor. She thought briefly about how disappointed Jeff might be if he found out how she was acting, or what she was thinking. She had made him stop drinking and they had a promise that she felt bad for breaking, since he kept his… As far as she knew. 

Soon enough, a dark-haired boy joined her, and she could only think that it was a miracle Richie actually listened to Eddie for once and got out of the cabinets. “You know, this is  _ your _ party and I haven’t seen you the whole time.” He said, trying not to breathe in the strong scent of alcohol surrounding her. “Shouldn’t you be out there with us?” 

Opal wasn’t used to Richie talking, lecturing, her in such a soft tone, so it came as a surprise to her to hear him speak like this. Still, she scoffed and shook her head. She figured this was because of her whole ‘tragic backstory’ thing, that he felt like he was walking on eggshells while talking to her, afraid that he would say something wrong. She hated that. She was still the same person as before. 

“Nah, everyone’s having a good time. I wouldn’t want to ruin it for them, you know? It isn’t even my birthday. Bonni’s sweet but she didn’t need to do this.” She worried that when those lab people kicked her, they knocked a few brain cells out, too. 

The brunette turned to face her best friend, well, one of them. The one she said she ‘loved’, whatever that meant. Even she didn’t know. She had a strong feeling that she wasn’t fully thinking at the moment and her brain couldn’t properly filter what the rest of her body was screaming to say. She was confused as to what she meant when she said that. She didn’t know if she loved anyone anymore, or if she even had the capacity. The capacity to feel anything at all. She wanted to test that theory so badly, and she didn’t care if she hurt anyone in her path. 

“Shouldn’t you be beating off in the bathroom to my underwear or something like that? You always said you wondered what kind of panties I wore, I thought you would’ve found them by now.” Once again, her brain wasn’t filtering anything she was saying- more so than usual for that matter, but at least the alcohol was to blame this time.

Richie wanted to tell her how cool it would be to have a sister like Bonnibel, and he wanted to ask her why she was wasting away over here, but her comment caught him off guard. “Wh-what? No, n-no, I would never do that!” He raised his hands in defense and slowly shook his head with a nervous laugh. “And I never said anything like that, I-I think you’ve got the wrong guy…” He had to remind himself, though, that she was drinking, and that drinking could impair her thought and maybe she was being delusional? 

He was right, of course, but his nerves were still pretty shot from that single statement. He managed to calm down after a few seconds, though, much to his relief. That wouldn’t last long, however. Opal tended to make boys nervous. 

“You probably forgot, but I don’t know how. You always say it.” She chuckled, continuing on with her personal quest. “Has anyone ever told you that your stammering is absolutely adorable? It’s proper cute. You’re only making yourself look guiltier by denying that in such a way, it’s basic psychology.” Opal’s icy, glazed over eyes studied Richie’s face up and down, mostly focusing in on his eyes or his lips, and she noticed he wasn’t wearing his glasses, but chalked that up to Beverly hiding them from him like she liked to do. Whatever, she thought, Richie was still Richie without his glasses.

The more that she looked at him, the more she noticed that the faint pink his cheeks held were slowly turning scarlet. “I already told you, I don’t do that stuff. Not everyone here is as drunk as you, and even if I was drunk I wouldn’t do that.” He let another nervous laugh slip, and he waved his hand in front of her face. “Is anyone home? You’re super drunk, Opal.” He tried to lessen his anxiety by adding light humor, but as recently stated, it wouldn’t work. Not with Opal there. 

She slowly took his hand from her face and intertwined their fingers together, which wasn’t out of the norm. Sometimes her and Richie held hands, friends could do that, and he was absolutely freaking out. His palms were sweating and thank god Opal didn’t notice. She was used to them sweating when they held hands, after all. She used her other hand to take another sip of her drink before speaking. “Hey, what do you think about when you masturbate? I’m curious.” 

He breathed in sharply and lowered his voice to just above a whisper. “Listen, I told you I don’t do that stuff, and you need to stop drinking.” Richie warned, using his free hand to take the bottle from her and set it beside him. He sounded worried and panicked, and Opal didn’t understand why, but it was because while she may have drank a lot in the past, it was never this much in front of their friends- it was concerning. 

“New topic.” He blurted in an attempt to get her off the subject of highly sexual activities. “I hear you got a prom dress. So, I guess you’re going now? How is it?” 

“Uh? Yeah? I already told you all that.” Now she was the one thinking he had been drinking, even though he said he hadn’t been. But he literally saw her dress, or not-dress when she had fainted. The same day she said she loved him… She recalled his worried expression and his panic laced voice while he was looking over her sleeping body. Soon, things her friends said came back to her, and she gently squeezed his hand. 

“People have been saying that you have a crush on me or something like that for a while now. Is it true? I didn’t know whether to believe them or not, so I just brushed it off, but… it’s been bothering me pretty bad lately.” She sighed through her nose. “Are they right?” 

There was a strong silence on the other side of her until she mentioned what people had been saying about the crush situation, and then there was a sharp inhale. What? Where did that come from? He didn’t… well, maybe a little, but it wasn’t obvious was it? No, this had to be some sort of mistake. “W-What? N-No, I have a girlfriend! Why would you think--?” He stopped himself from rambling too much, but he just couldn’t wrap his brain around what she’d just said. She must’ve been drunker than he had previously imagined. 

Opal’s grip on his hand loosened considerably, and she looked towards the boy, her eyes wide with shock. He had a girlfriend?

That was the exact reason why she didn’t want to tell him she loved him in the first place. 

She knew something like this would happen, but she persisted in a weak attempt to make herself feel better, to prevent anything from going more wrong than it had been going. Sadly, things have a tendency not to work out in stories like these.

Richie was confused as to why she pulled her hand away and seemed genuinely hurt. Didn’t she know? He thought it had been pretty obvious that he was taken, but then again, she was pretty intoxicated. “You didn’t know? It’s pretty clear to everyone else.” He pointed out before continuing. “And I know that there are some people who flirt with you and stuff when they’re dating someone, but I’m not like that. I don’t cheat. You’re just a good friend to me.” He bit the inside of his cheek after he finished talking, the pounding in his chest becoming a little louder, enough to where he could faintly hear it in his ears. 

This couldn’t be right. The words “good friend” echoed in her head, and her hand moved up to clutch where the pain was now radiating from-- her chest. Her shirt bunched up around where she was grabbing, and she didn’t look in the best of conditions- for once she looked like how she felt. 

The more those words repeated, the more she realized she wasn’t okay until she abruptly stood up, uttering a small “cool” before briskly walking over to her room, and then her bathroom. She didn’t have any time to close the doors, though, because right when she stepped foot into her bathroom, she dropped to her knees and hugged the toilet while clear liquid spilled from her lips and burned her throat; the fluid being clear due to the mass amount of alcohol with no food mixed in for hours. 

By the end of that, she was brushing her teeth, a few stray tears escaping her eyes after she rinsed and spit. What was there to do now? Sure, she still had Jeff and the others, but she felt broken now. She thought he cared about her, but it didn’t seem that way anymore and it would never be that way again because of what she asked. She felt a wave of regret wash over her, something she hadn’t experienced in a while. She shouldn’t have said anything. Now she truly did wish she were dead, regardless of who cared or not. It didn’t matter anymore. 

Her body was still drunk enough to only see a blur of the sad expression she wore in her reflection, even if her body had rejected her last few swigs of alcohol. No one could ever love that, and she was a fool for thinking otherwise. 

Back over to Richie- he felt terrible. She quite literally fell apart right in front of his eyes and he just sat there and watched, doing nothing. He was so confused. He didn’t know what to feel. On one hand, he needed to defend his girlfriend. They had a bond, they’ve known each other for a while and they both went through hell and back. On the other hand, he should’ve just played along.

It wasn’t like he’d be acting, really.

Slowly, he stood up and forced himself to walk in her direction despite the fact that his feet felt ten times heavier now. He persisted, though. He had to, it’s what a good friend would do. 

When he actually walked into her room, he looked around uncomfortably. He felt like it was wrong, like he was invading her privacy, but he was now worried. Where could she be if she wasn’t here? That question was answered quickly when the sound of a running sink was heard and in the same direction he spotted her smaller figure.

Fuck.

What did he do?

“Opal?” He asked softly, carefully treading towards the bathroom doorway as if he was approaching a feral animal, which he might as well have been. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” She muttered, closing the medicine cabinet to look back at him through the mirror. “What do you want?”

He gulped.

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry, but I can’t do what you want me to do. I have someone, we’re happy together and I… I don’t know. It just seems wrong to throw it all away like that.” 

Opal turned around and furrowed her brows. “Yeah, well, I thought we had something but apparently I was wrong. I was wrong to ever trust you, and I wish I would’ve never even fucking met you. I tried so, so hard to not get hurt again. I built a wall around myself, and I never let anyone get close to me but somehow you weaseled your way in. I was just fine without you, I didn’t need to feel anything because I knew I would only end up where I started off.”

Richie walked up to her, grabbing her upper arms, watching the angry tears stream from her face. “But Opal—” 

“No. You know what?” The more she looked at him, the more she noticed that his hair wasn’t as curly as usual, and he still didn’t have glasses on. 

She had the wrong boy all along.

This whole ordeal was enough for her to be sure that she didn’t want to go through anything like this ever again. She would make sure it never happened, for good this time. She couldn’t take all the stress that had come unto her in the past few days, she could hardly sleep, and she wasn’t functioning right.

“… Mike?”

“Yeah?”

He watched as her face contorted into an expression of confusion and anxiety at that. What was wrong? He was so scared, after what all he said he didn’t know what she was thinking.

“I thought you were someone else…” Opal whispered, shaking her head. “I take back everything I said. Just forget it, I never liked you like that- or anyone for that matter. Just- just leave, okay?” 

“You don’t have to take it back.” Mike insisted, not for her but for himself. He had lied earlier, or rather he dodged her question. The crush he had started out small, when she first was introduced to the group through Bonnibel. She was cool and pretty and, just so different than anyone he’d met. It grew bigger over time and now that he and Jane weren’t doing so well in their relationship, he was happy that she had said all of these things. It broke his heart to realize that she was talking about Richie and not him. He felt worse seeing her like this. So, broken, so scared, so hopeless. He couldn’t do anything but watch as she shoved him out of the door with every bit of strength she had. He was frozen, he couldn’t get up and protest and he couldn’t force anything out. 

Just as slowly as he came in, he walked out of her bedroom and back to the Moreau’s living room where the rest of the party was taking place. It was like nothing had changed, like time froze when he and Opal had been talking. 

He still couldn’t get the sinking feeling he had forming in the pit of his stomach to go away, but he wanted her to have some alone time if she wanted it. It’s not like he could’ve bust down the door and forced her to talk to him and to stop being sad, as much as he would’ve liked that to be the case.

_ Every person is capable of murder. The only thing that differs is the motive.  _

Opal knew that for sure, and it didn’t take a psychology book to teach her that. How she knew was from pure personal experience.

She stood, looking in the mirror with a disgusted, hateful expression plastered onto her face. It looked so out of place, like it didn’t belong on her. It was unsettling. It only took a few minutes of looking deeply into her reflection to make a final decision.

After all of these years…

She finally knew who she wanted to kill. 

Opal turned towards the door and locked it before turning back to the mirror.

Her hand flung open the medicine cabinet and blindly grabbed the biggest bottle she could get. The label didn’t matter, she couldn’t understand half of the things Linda kept in the house. She was a nurse and had many types of medicine to cure anything under the sun.

Including a lifelong burden, apparently. 

With the pill bottle in hand, she walked over to the bathtub and turned the faucet on, checking to see if the water was a comfortable temperature before letting it run for a while. She took the time to take a cup by the sink, usually used to rinse toothpaste from her mouth, and fill it with cold water.

In situations like these, time seemed to either freeze or go too fast. For her, it felt like a torturous combination of the two. The bath was drawn faster than she had expected it to be, and she turned the faucet off. 

The water rippled with the last few drops leaking from the spout, mimicking her eyes and the dried tears on her cheeks. She couldn’t cry anymore, she physically couldn’t shed another tear- it was impossible. She breathed a deep, drawn out breath, resting her hand on the cap of the bottle.

She fidgeted with it, a sign of hesitation on her part. She hated that, how she hesitated with doing this. It proved how much of a coward she was. The only thing she could pity herself for was the fact that she couldn’t open the bottle faster, that her arms grew so weak at that moment in time. It made her angry. Angry enough to finally get the bottle open. 

Opal’s arm only grew heavier and her hand trembled as she held the bottle up to her lips and the glass of water in the other. 

All she could hear in the back of her head was static and the faint screams of her friends. They were crying, pleading with her to stop where she was at, to not go through with it. Her eyes clamped shut as if that would make any of the voices go away, and out of the pained sounds of those dear to her, there was a louder whisper that said two simple words.

**_“Do it.”_ **

She threw the bottle back like it was a shot, taking in a mouthful of bitter tasting pills. She gagged, feeling the rest of the alcohol trying to come back up, but she rushed them down with water and fought to keep them down, steadily rotating between the pills and the water until both were empty and her stomach burned. 

It was the most she’d consumed in a while.

Who knew the next thing she ate would be her last? Certainly not her. She was proud of herself for once, for finally not backing out on this one thing. No one knew, but there had been multiple attempts before, none of which fell through until now.

She was still a coward, though, for running away from her problems. 

For taking the easy way out. 

_ For not caring about how her friends would feel. _

The room eventually started spinning, to the point of her having to hold herself up on the counter to get into the bathtub. 

She didn’t bother taking off her clothes, even if she was able to under the thick haze. She didn’t want whoever found her to see the ugly shape of her body. The protruding bones, the pale skin, the scars, the bruises. Even in the afterlife she wanted to keep that a secret.

Her lungs worked overtime, her chest heaving up in the water while her head lolled to one side and then the other, her fingers running softly against the porcelain sides of the tub, the wet fabric she was wearing weighing her arm down significantly.

After living a life full of regrets, the strongest one that held onto her at that moment was not telling Bonnibel, Richie, Jeff, Jesse, everyone how much she cared about them. You could maybe say she even loved them.

It didn’t seem that way now. They’d never forgive her for this, they’d know how selfish and horrible she was, they’d hate her. 

Opal didn’t mind.

No one could hate her more than she hated herself. 

Her eyes began to flutter shut, and her body fought back by pushing them back open for as long as it could. Her breathing was shallow, and her skin grew even more pale than it had been in the first place.

The room grew black.

Everyone always described death as a cold embrace, but to her it felt warm.

Like an old friend visiting one last time.


	18. Lazarus

_ BEEP… BEEP… BEEP…  _

A sharp breath of air penetrated her lungs, her foggy eyes fluttering open for the first time in a while it seemed.

She was in a room, laying down with an IV running from her arm to a bag held up by a metal pole. Slowly, she sat up in the bed she was laying in. It was cold in here, much too cold. The lighting was bright like a neon sign, yet it didn’t give off the warm rays it should’ve. It, too, was cold and blue- yet somehow the room remained dark as if the mysterious light wasn’t there at all. 

Her hearing faded in eventually while she looked down to her other wrist, a red bracelet secured around it. The only thing she could hear were deafeningly loud hospital sirens; no people, no working monitors, no anything. She was alone here, wherever she was.

Slowly, she shifted her legs over the bed and stood up, wincing at the icy floor. Her toes curled. She proceeded to walk only to feel a tugging sensation on her arm- her IV. She moved a hand to grab around the thin pole to carry it with her as she walked down the hallway. Everything here seemed so sterile, which didn’t make sense because no one was here to keep up with it, to keep it this clean.

What was this place?

Some alternate dimension?

Was this the Upside-Down?

The hallway she walked down seemed to go on forever, and all of the rooms she looked into were vacant. The further she went, the colder it got, the less light there was. Her frozen breath gained visibility in front of her pale, glazed over eyes, and a sense of dread came unto her chest. She looked over to her hand and noticed the unusually pale tone of her skin and the spider-y veins that rose to its surface. She also noticed that the lights were flickering at this point, and the sirens were becoming fainter by the minute.

It wasn’t until she felt something grab her did she realize she had walked into complete darkness. There was no sign of the hospital here, no light, no sound, nothing. Not even time. She was completely frozen, and she couldn’t breathe. She didn’t feel like she had to.

Something quickly pulled her back, a rush of the lights and the sirens becoming louder than they were before invading her senses. Time moved again, only more quickly compared to when she had just woken up. The lights got brighter, and she felt a familiar warmth on her skin.

The sirens faded into soft beeping.

A loud gasp came from the recently deceased Opal Audrey Bellis.

The monitor beside the hospital bed was going wild until she ripped the needle out of her arm and jumped out of the bed, only to have two nurses and a doctor rush in to restrain her, blood flowing out from her arm.

Behind those nurses came a herd of people who were much too familiar to her, but looked all too different at the moment. Puffy eyes, tear stained cheeks, they looked like they hadn’t slept in days. They looked like they didn’t want to anymore. Their sorrow turned into shock and disbelief. 

Their eyes lit up at the sight of Opal now alive and kicking- literally. She was struggling against the nurses, panicking because she had no clue what was going on, what had happened. One minute she was in a desecrated hospital and now it was full? This was too much to take in, she had just woken up. The doctor came forth and pricked her with a different needle that seemed to calm her down within mere seconds. Her breathing slowed, and she stopped fighting so they could check her vitals, her arm, anything on her that they possibly could. 

“Do you remember anything?” the doctor asked, clipboard in hand. 

Opal looked over at her friends, her family, the most important people in the world to her, trying to pull back any recollection of the past few days, but she drew a blank. She glanced down and shook her head, looking back up to the doctor with confused eyes. “N-no… what happened?” The faint sobbing from across the room broke her heart to hear, and she weakly tried to get up to go see them, to comfort them about whatever they were upset over, but the nurses put their hands on her shoulder to keep her from moving and overworking her fragile body. 

“You tried to kill yourself. You overdosed on a narcotic, which mixed in with the large amount of alcohol you consumed turned into a deadly concoction. Your friends called an ambulance as soon as they found you laying in a tub, unresponsive next to an empty bottle of pills. You were rushed here, in critical condition, but luckily, we found you had vomited some of the pills up before we arrived, which was dangerous in itself because you could have asphyxiated and died; but you didn’t. You fell into a comatose an hour after arriving and remained in a sleep-like state for a month.” He paused, looking down at his sheet, a perplexed look in his eyes. She could tell he was struggling to comprehend something on the paper, but she didn’t know why. 

That was, until he continued. 

“You died a few minutes ago, Miss Bellis. Somehow you came back. Fully stable vitals, too. It’s a medical miracle, we’re not quite sure what happened.”

Opal’s eyes widened, looking back to her family and friends. How did that happen? That was impossible. She was dead. She faintly remembered her walking down a long, winding hallway… she was in a room exactly like this. What pulled her back? 

“We put your necklace back on, it was your little group’s idea. Came here every day to see you while you were in here. They care a lot about you, I hope you know that.” The doctor smiled as Opal clutched her necklace close to her chest.

_ “Jesse.” _

“I-I’m so sorry, guys… I didn’t…” She said, just above a whisper. 

Mister and Missus Moreau shook their heads, tears falling. “No, we’re sorry.” Linda whispered. 

The children and few teenagers that were there looked confused. Why would they be sorry? They should be the ones that were sorry. The people Opal thought she could trust weren’t there for her in her time of need and they almost lost her. 

No one blamed themselves more than her closest friends, though. Bonnibel for not realizing what was going on, Richie for not seeing her reckless actions as cries for help, Jeff for not having the courage to ask her how  _ she _ was feeling, Jesse for putting all this extra pressure on her, and Mike for pushing her over the edge. 

They hated themselves for that. 

What they weren’t told was that due to her suicide attempt and alcohol abuse alongside a very serious eating disorder, if she woke up, she couldn’t go home straight away. Instead of returning to the same stressful environment, she would be sent away for a few weeks to a mental health facility.

That was the nice way of saying an insane asylum.

Just then, two men in white walked through the doors, and the nurses let up on her restraints. She was confused. She looked up at them, then the doctor, then at her parents. They looked away shamefully.

Opal shook her head. “N-no… What’s going on?” she panicked, pulling back her arms when they grabbed her out of her bed. She struggled as much as she could, reaching out to her friends and family.

Bonnibel furrowed her brows and looked up at her mother and father, angry tears streaming down her cheeks. “Mom, Dad! Why aren’t you doing anything?! Help her! You can’t just let them take her away!” She screamed pushing at them. “Where are they taking her?! Opal! Come back!” She lunged for her sister, who was being carried away, but James grabbed her by the shoulder to restrain her. The glass in the windows broke, and the lights flickered. 

“Where is she going? What’s happening? You can’t just take our friend away like that!” Richie wasn’t too pleased, either. He was angry. Angry at those people for taking her away, angry at himself for not helping her before. 

“Richie, there’s nothing we can do.” Eddie, the quiet boy, said, setting a hand on his best friend’s shoulder.

Jeff stayed quiet, watching the light of his life fade away. Leave him. Just like everyone else did. His worst fear had become a reality. She left him once and then came back, and now someone was taking her away from him by force, and he couldn’t do anything about it. It was out of his control; he was powerless. He tilted his head down and let his blonde hair fall in his eyes, his fists clenching tightly. He didn’t know what he was going to do. He didn’t know what to do. The person he confided in was sitting there, screaming at someone,  _ anyone _ , to help her- and he couldn’t be that anyone. All he could do was stand there and watch. He had never felt more hopeless, more furious in his life.

“Please! Someone!  **Fucking help me already!** ” She screamed, so loud that her vocal chords popped, and blood spattered from her mouth. She couldn’t leave them again like that. She didn’t want to. It was a horrifying scene. Two large men taking away a girl who looked half dead, blood coming out of her mouth from screaming so much while her friends panicked and cried out of anger and grief for once again losing her. 

The door shut and all she could see was the still picture of her friends and family. They looked like they had just attended her funeral, which they might as well have. She couldn’t scream anymore, there was no point. They couldn’t hear her; these walls were soundproof.

She stayed silent the whole while they brought her down to a large white van. The men cuffed her and threw her back in there, like she was some kind of prisoner who had committed some awful crime. Was needing help that big of a crime to these people? To be locked up and detained like a dangerous animal? The only danger Opal posed was to herself, that should’ve been more than obvious by what had happened.

Seeing the saddened faces of her friends made her realize that even after she had betrayed them like that, they still loved her. They were devastated that she was gone, and they truly wanted her back beside them. She missed them already, more than words could express.

Opal looked over to see a familiar translucent presence sitting next to her against the van walls, smiling down at the short girl, his hand combing gently through her hair.

“It was you, wasn’t it?” Opal asked, giving a half smile.

Jesse shrugged. “There’s only room for one ghost ‘round here. They need you, Opes.” He said playfully, despite being serious. “I need you, too.”

Opal leaned into him and allowed his arm to wrap around her shoulder and continue to play with her hair. It helped her calm down quite a bit. It gave her time to think about her situation, about what would happen now. About what Jesse said. She made a vow to herself from that moment forward that she would fight to get out of this, to see her friends again.

She needed her friends just as much as they needed her. 

Her work on this planet wasn’t done just yet.

What’s cheating fate a few more times?


	19. Welcome to Willowbrook

The drive to wherever this van was going was unbearably long for Opal. She had no clue where they were going or what on earth was happening, no one told her. She had a feeling they didn’t  _ want  _ to tell her in the first place, which only made the sense of dread forming in the pit of her stomach larger. Jesse had left hours ago, and she was finally able to get in a little rest where she didn’t have any crazy dreams or anything, just silence. 

The van stopped, and her body tumbled forward on the slick metal of the flooring. A bright light appeared and naturally, she shielded her eyes- or attempted to at least. The two men in white grabbed her arms and pulled her out of the back before sliding a pair of cuffs on her thin wrists. They gave her little to no time to struggle, even if she wanted to. 

Soon enough she was walking with both men behind her, one ghostly figure next to her. Her eyes squinted to see the lettering on the building, only to discover that there was nothing. It unnerved her to say the least, and she turned to Jesse with wide eyes.

“Where the bloody hell are we?” She whispered, a sense of urgency enveloping her words.

One of the men walked in front of her and opened the door for her to walk through, which she did. She was met with a religious statue and a few staff members walking by in a brisk fashion. Along with that, she heard the faint, pained screams beyond the walls.

“Welcome to Willowbrook.”

Opal looked back at the man and moved away from him, bumping into a different man in a suit. He set his hands on her narrow shoulders and walked her into a nearby hallway. On the unnervingly long walk there, she’d seen a glimpse of the horrible conditions that lived beyond these walls from the nurses briefly opening the doors to pop in. The same conditions she’d be living in. The screams became louder and the smell of corpses became more apparent. 

Before she knew it, she was sat down on an examining table, like one that she would see in hospitals; though she supposed this was technically a hospital of sorts. The cuffs were taken off of her and the man that had brought her here was holding a clip board and a pen, like her other doctor had. This one, though, he didn’t seem like he had very many good intentions. She could’ve said that about all the staff here. They looked… not good. Sinister. Evil. 

“Miss Bellis, correct?”

That name still rubbed her the wrong way. 

“Audrey. Not Bellis. Thanks.” She muttered, rubbing her arms. She was cold, like usual. There was nothing on her body to keep her warm after all. The doctor noticed, and he walked out of her line of sight and came back with a red cardigan to go over her hospital gown. He draped it over her shoulders, and she replied to that by stubbornly shoving her arms through the holes. It was big on her, but comfortably so. She guessed they weren’t used to kids her size.

“Right then. Miss Audrey. Do you know why you’re here?” He asked, turning on a bright light. It shined against his glasses, obscuring the expression his eyes held. Doctors were supposed to make you feel safe, and Opal didn’t have a fear of doctors, but she sure as hell didn’t feel safe. 

She shifted a moment, clasping her hands together in between her thighs simply because she didn’t know what to do with them anymore. “Because I tried to kill myself?” the brunette asked with a quirk of her brow. 

The doctor looked up, his glasses glinting. He turned around and placed his pen on the paper he was holding, and then began to list things while pacing around her like a shark circling its prey. “Let’s see…”

“Chronic depression, anorexia nervosa, alcoholism, showing unusual interest in the morbid…”

“Yeah, can I have a cigarette?” she interrupted dismissively, but he persisted.

“Belonephilia, sexual deviance, speaking to one’s self while alone…” He flipped through a few papers and clicked his pen a few times. “Other such things… You may be the single most interesting patient I’ve ever seen, Miss Audrey.” 

She didn’t want to think of how he got all of that information on her. Only she knew some of those things, she wouldn’t dare tell others, she knew for a fact she didn’t tell anyone about the whole belonephilia thing. “Yeah, so? This isn’t the nineteenth century, it’s none of your business.” 

“Quite the contrary. As your doctor, I need to know these things, so I can treat you effectively.” He said, stopping right in front of her. “Doctor Clark.” The raven-haired man had finally introduced himself after what seemed like forever, and Opal wasn’t happy; when was she ever? 

She rolled her eyes. “I don’t think you can just ‘ _ fix _ ’ me. Or anyone for that matter. You can’t just make it all better. You can’t just give me a fucking lollipop and send me on my way. That’s a bunch of bullocks.” She was too damaged for that. 

Doctor Clark’s expression darkened, and he looked back down at his papers. “There will be no candy, we do things differently at Staten Island Developmental Center.” Wait a minute, didn’t one of those creepy guys say this place’s name was Willowbrook? What happened to that? “Let’s see… Comatose hasn’t fixed anything as far as I can tell, so it’s pointless to try that. Maybe hydrotherapy? Electroshock therapy? There’s always lobotomy if nothing else works.”

“You try sticking an icepick in my head and it’ll be up your ass faster than you can scream.” Opal snapped back with a venomous glare that could put Heather to shame.

Clark hummed. “I suppose violence is a problem, too?”

“What the hell? No shit I’m getting violent! You’re threatening me, and you expect me to just lie there and take it?” She argued, her brows furrowing

“I assume it wouldn’t have been the first time you’ve done that.” 

This sick fuck. What did she have to do to get on his good side? What  _ could _ she do? She thought as fast as she could force herself to. She was out of her element. 

Before she could say anything, her arm shot up and grabbed at his sleeve. She couldn’t be stuck in this place, she didn’t belong there. If they were looking for anyone that fit her mental description then they’d have to get another building to fit all those people in; in fact, they probably should’ve done that a long time ago.

“Yes?” he asked, with an unamused expression. 

Opal struggled to think again. What could she offer him that he didn’t already have, or that he couldn’t take by force? 

“Let’s make a deal.” She blurted, looking up at him with wide, panicked eyes. He scoffed and pulled his arm away. “I don’t make deals, especially not with asylum patients.” ‘Asylum’ was a word that gave her a cold feeling in her stomach. People didn’t call mental health facilities that anymore, it was a taboo word, and he used it because he knew it made her squirm. 

He enjoyed seeing such a spitfire girl fizzle out in despair. 

“I don’t belong here.”

“You and six thousand others.”

“I’m serious, I… I’ll do anything, please.”

He looked her up and down. “What would I ever want from  _ you _ ?”

She shrugged. She didn’t know what he could possibly want from her, but it would be stupid not to try. “Whatever you want. I promise.” She was begging at this point, which hardly ever happened. She wasn’t one to beg, but she also wasn’t one to be taken advantage of. Opal was getting herself out of here. 

Preferably sometime soon. 

The doctor nodded and took in her offer. It was a good sign that he was at least considering it. “You know, you may be my favorite patient yet.” He said, walking over to put the clipboard back on his desk. “Are you squeamish, Miss Audrey?” 

The brunette shook her head quickly. By no means was she squeamish, she’d seen some fucked up shit in her day, namely rotting corpses in alleyways which would sometimes have pieces missing. 

“Excellent.” He stood up and walked over to the door leading out into the hallway that she came from. “Follow me and stay close, these residents tend to have wandering hands when it comes to pretty little girls like you and rumor has it that children are going missing. Some say it’s a resident here.” She swallowed at his words and hopped down from the examination table, walking over to the much taller man, grabbing at his coat with one hand and the necklace under her hospital gown with the other.

They set off down the hallway. She noted how the floor was bare concrete with splatters of unknown substances here and there. The walls were the same; boring, dirty white or dingy bricks splattered with whatever might’ve been there years before. It was worse once they reached the commoners area. Kids of all ages were sprawled out on the floor, most of them weren’t even wearing clothes; It smelled terrible, not unlike what she was familiar with back in London, there was human waste in places there shouldn’t have been, Opal even managed to catch glimpse of a boy violently masturbating. She quickly looked away from that and from everyone, as if now they couldn’t see her because she couldn’t see them. She wished that was how it worked, but even if she couldn’t see them, she could most definitely still hear the screams and cries they made. 

Opal held her breath and closed her eyes, only walking in the direction she felt Doctor Clark pull. He eventually stopped, and so did she. 

“You can open your eyes now.” He said. She hated that she was clinging to him like a child, that she couldn’t face the reality of her life. I guess places like these just take everything you have within a matter of seconds.

She smelled the strong stench of chemicals and a little something else, something that reminded her too much of a close friend. When she opened her eyes, she understood why. The doctor stepped away to go do something else.

“You shouldn’t have any jewelry on.” He pointed out.

“Oh…” Opal let go of it. “It’s from an old friend.” She explained, clearly distracted with the sight in front of her. It was colder in here, which made sense because right in front of her was a morgue with bodies laid out and everything, only she was sure that some of the bodies weren’t in good condition for this being a place where you fix them. In fact, there were jars strewn about, there was a laundry chute nearby, and a few other questionable things like bodies hung up in weird ways. She felt as if, you know, he shouldn’t be doing these things and ‘treating’ patients that didn’t need to be treated for anything because nothing was wrong with them. 

She paced around the cold metal tables, the bodies that were hanging on meat hooks, the jars, and the chemical bottles. The doctor watched her do this and noted that she didn’t hold any emotion in her face as she did so. She didn’t pull back, she didn’t vomit, she didn’t faint, nothing. Most of the people he brought here did something along those lines, which proved that they were weak, and needed to be disposed of before they could tell anyone about what was going on- it wasn’t like anyone would notice a few missing kids no one cared about anyway. If someone truly cared for them then they wouldn’t be here.

This was the place where people dumped the problems they didn’t want to deal with, it’s where kids came to die a slow and painful death. 

Clark strode forward to look at the tables full of putrefying bodies along with her. He recalled that a few of them were still alive before he left to go see his new patient, but just barely. “There must be something wrong with you. Children don’t see rotting corpses and think nothing of it, I wonder what might’ve happened to make you the way you are?”

Opal looked over at a counter near her and noticed an amber colored bottle, listening to him talk. She carefully picked up the bottle and read the faded label before stuffing it up the sleeve of her sweater. “There’s plenty wrong with me, but I’m no worse than the next person. We’ve all got our crimes, haven’t we?” The doctor seemed amused with that answer. “What an interesting belief. So, are you saying those that murder have the same innocence as a child?” 

“That’s not for me to decide.” She answered. He looked back at her, glancing at the cup of coffee she was holding. “Ah, I was looking for that.” The young man walked forward and took it out of her hands to take a long sip.

“Why? Have you committed a crime?” He looked at her, lowering his coffee cup.

“What you said about children going missing…”

_ “Perhaps you’re the reason?” _

Doctor Clark smirked and set the cup down on a table before roughly picking Opal up. He set her down on top of one of the tables hard enough for a crack to sound out; not from either of them, but from the decomposing body he’d placed her atop. His hips were placed in between her thin, pale legs and he grabbed for a large knife that was lying next to the corpse. In one swift movement, he wrapped her hair in his hand and pulled it to reveal her neck, which he pressed the knife against. He was still smirking, but his eyes held copious amounts of anger and hatred and… excitement?

“Are you trying to blackmail me? It won’t work. You’ll be gone before then, and no one would suspect a thing. The pretty ones always go missing around here.” He growled through gritted teeth.

“Oh man, you’re not even gonna try to deny it?” She asked, crossing her arms. “You sure aren’t painting yourself out to be very innocent, doctor.” 

“Well, like you said earlier, everyone has their crimes.” He used her own philosophy against her, and he felt really clever for doing so. Something about this made his chest tighten with lust and his stomach turn with exhilaration.

Opal giggled. She laughed in his face, which kind of shattered his masculinity a little bit. His expression fell and now he didn’t look so happy, just angry. His grip on the knife softened but eventually came back, stronger than the last time. “What the fuck are you laughing at? Do you want to die?”

“Considering I came here from a suicide attempt, I’ll let you figure that out.” She paused. “Oh, and the whole beno- _ whatever _ and sexual deviance thing? Knives make me horny, not scared.” Clearly, she had a death wish, but we been knew.

At that, he let go of her hair and attempted to unbuckle his belt with one hand, the other still occupied with the knife. “So, you’re aroused? Is that it?” He was still struggling with his belt. “I want to see what a slut feels like when she’s still alive.”

“Hey, so remember when you asked if I thought a murderer and a child shared the same amount of crime and I said that was for you to decide?” She asked.

“Why does it  _ fucking _ matter?!” He was getting frustrated with his belt and himself for not being able to get it un-buckled. His chest wouldn’t stop tightening and his stomach kept doing metaphorical backflips, and now things were going blurry, even with his glasses. His silver eyes looked back up at the girl in front of him, trying to focus in on her face. His weapon clattered to the ground and he squinted, finally able to see her holding a dark bottle, one he immediately recognized as his embalming fluid.

“Have you decided yet,  _ doctor _ ?”

He held his hand in front of his face and noticed the rapid yellowing of his skin that signified his liver failing. The doctor dropped to his knees and grasped his stomach while his chest heaved up a fair amount of blood. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed movement- Opal sliding off of the dead body and walking off somewhere he couldn’t see. 

Then he felt her standing behind him. He couldn’t bear to look, and in fact, he couldn’t turn his head- his motor function was deteriorating more and more by the second. 

He couldn’t—

_ Thwack. _

Opal stood over the freshest corpse out of the multitude in the room, a crimson soaked pipe in her hand and a growing puddle of blood. 

“What a wanker.” She muttered, breathing out a breath of relief. Soon enough, she was joined once again by Jesse. 

“Oh my god, Opal! He’s  _ dead _ !” he panicked. “What are we gonna do?”

“Jesse, you’re also dead—"

“You’re gonna get arrested. They’re gonna find you and take you away…”

“Jesse—”

“I mean, you were defending yourself, but you killed someone!”

“If you would listen—”

“Oh god, what do we do? The cops are gonna—”

“ **Jesse!** ”

He stopped pacing around the room and turned to her.

“The cops won’t find me if we get out of here. I haven’t been here long enough, they don’t have my prints on file, wherever we are—”

“New York.”

She looked at him for a minute before continuing. “Even if they do find out who killed him, it’s not like they’re going to care after seeing this, everything that he’s done. I can guarantee that the police are looking for those missing children and now the problem is solved for them.”

He exhaled air through his non-existent lungs and nodded. “You’re right, but how are we going to get out of this place?”

She gave him a look, and immediately he was worried.

What kind of ideas did she have? He trusted her, of course, but he wasn’t necessarily as daring as she was if that’s what you wanted to call it.

_ Well. _

An hour later, they managed to find his car and in the passenger seat was a very disturbed Opal, obviously leaning towards the window, her arms crossed, and her brows knitted together, utterly un-focused on the map she was holding. 

“So, were you pretending to be scared? That’s pretty impressive! I knew you didn’t get scared from things like that, but I didn’t know you were so good at acting!” Came Jesse’s voice excitedly.

“Uh,  _ yeah _ … I’m… I’m good at lying… and… hiding my feelings.” She replied slowly.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, taking a minute to look over at her and then back at the road. As much as he liked looking at Opal, he liked her being alive; with that being said, wrecks were out of the question. 

She looked at the dead, now possessed, body of Doctor Clark and pressed her lips together, her eyes darting up to ‘Jesse’ when he turned to her. She inhaled sharply through her nose and shook her head, raising her eyebrows dismissively. 

“Nothing.” Opal lied, quickly looking back down at her map.

“Oh! Look, we’re in Pennsylvania!”

And she was in the car with a literal rotting corpse for another nine hours. 

_ Fuck.  _

“It’s going to take forever to get back to Indiana…”

_ How the fuck was she gonna get rid of the body? _


	20. Anonimity

A murderer is generally thought as the stereotypical middle-aged man with thick aviator frames and an expression to match the bodies he’s made. When people thought of murderers, they thought of a cold-blooded person with no regards for other people, an anti-social creature who lurked in the darkness. They never thought them to be charming, they never thought them to be young, they never thought them to be a  _ girl _ . Girls were too soft, to sweet, too fragile to do such things.

Girls were clearly too delicate to be running away from the law in a stolen car with a possessed corpse driving in the front seat. 

And yet here she was, in the car with the ghost of a murdered friend possessing the body of her attempted abuser, hiding away from her crimes, hiding away from the penalty of taking another human being’s life. She couldn’t sleep, she would’ve slept by now if she could’ve but there was just too much weighing in on her mind. Not only were there the scarring memories of her childhood, but her friends, prom, solving this whole murder ordeal no one in Hawkins seemed to care about, and then of course there was the fact that she had killed someone.

Never in her life would she have guessed that things would’ve ended up like this- she assumed she would’ve been dead by now, she would have preferred that if Jesse hadn’t jolted the soul back in her body. It would’ve saved her from the dark thoughts storming her head. 

Opal couldn’t help but think how much more she would’ve liked it if Doctor Clark would have been her brother or her parents, how marvelous of a concept that little vision was; she thought of the rush that taking another’s life gave her, the adrenaline of permanent revenge, the beauty of the crimson leaking out of his sick and pathetic skull. She knew better. She knew it was sick to think like this, but for once in that moment she felt like he had control in her life.

Complete and utter control over the life of another.

It was a feeling foreign to her, the feeling her family had robbed her of for years had finally gotten back to her in the most severe of ways. It was deadly in so many more ways than just one, just the leaning of what she had done. Deadly in the way that this this, whatever it was, could’ve become an addiction if she wasn’t careful. She knew adrenaline addiction was real- addiction to the little jolt of electricity that coursed throughout your body when doing something potentially dangerous, and she didn’t want to add that onto every other problem she had with a craving for something dangerous.

Then again, wasn’t that feeling there before? If it wasn’t, then why did she regularly attend shady clubs in the past, why did she drink and drink until she couldn’t see straight, why did she do these harmful things if she didn’t get anything from it? It had to have been something, surely, but now it was just… More. This was the highest she’d reached with that rush, that feeling of complete control, of blood lust. She had recalled that in that moment her vision had gone red and her whole body was like a well-oiled machine and there was no way of stopping the motion of cracking that doctor’s head open like an egg. It was as if she had done this before, like she already knew the motion of such things, the drill of murder. 

It felt good. 

Her mind thought back to Jeffrey, the promise she’d made him forge. She had made him promise not to act upon his urges, to talk to her about these things, to slow down with the alcohol and yet here she had been, doing the same things she didn’t want him doing. The situation was strange, really, she couldn’t have possibly cared less about her own mental health- what happened to her- but she cared fiercely about her friends. They were the only family she’d ever known and she would protect them with her life. It was bad enough that she couldn’t have saved Jesse.

The more she thought, the more she had found some sort of twisted humor in this situation, this absolute disaster. She had been sent to a mental institution when she was perfectly fine, but now that she left she knew she was not okay by any means, the opposite of what was supposed to happen. The brunette smiled inwardly, not a sweet smile but the kind that was an acknowledgement of the irony happening here. She had been sent to an institution, coming out in worse mental condition she had been in and on top of that, she did the same thing she had made someone promise not to do. Pathetic. 

“Jesse, pull over.” She said, head leaned against the window drowsily. The dark circles had come back and she didn’t think they’d go away for a while now. The weight of taking a life wasn’t there, but rather the weight of it not being there tired her- what was wrong with her? Why didn’t she feel terribly guilt ridden? Why did she feel so  _ good  _ about it? Perhaps it was that he was a bad person, he’d taken others’ lives so she only served him justice. That was it, right? That’s what she told herself, at least. 

Another ironic component to this; The psychotic psychologist. That made for an interesting title, surely. 

The reflection of the streetlights appeared bright in her dull, glazed eyes as he pulled over. There was something wrong with her, and he knew it, but he found it was best not to ask a girl questions when she was so silent like this; something he learned from his mother, Olive, and Wyatt when he had been alive. The foggy eyes of the shell he had been in turned to watch her exit the car and walk over to a gas station after searching through the glove compartment and then the console. He sighed. Why couldn’t he just make her happy? Was she afraid of being happy?

That could’ve been very possible. Opal may have been afraid to feel anything positive in fear of it being ripped away from her again. She may have had a fear of abandonment not only dealing with people, but with feelings as well. 

As the English girl stood up and walked out onto the damp concrete, slick with water from the previous hour’s rain, she stared ahead at the small building in front of her, Doctor Clark’s wallet in hand. When she walked in to the fluorescently lit place, the humidity from outside and the chilled air that hit her body made it uncomfortably clammy, and she cringed, taking a few steps forward and down the aisle. The cashier manning the register looked to be a bored teenager with tanned skin, sweet brown hair, and piercing green eyes. It was obvious she didn’t want to be there, and so she didn’t look up when she heard the door open and she still didn’t look up to see the slightly disheveled girl walking around and grabbing things off the shelf. A gasoline tank, a box of matches, a Swiss army knife, and a few other small things to clean herself up. Items in hand, she walked up to the area to pay, pulling out the credit card that clearly didn’t belong to her. The girl looked up, and studied Opal for a minute, and she did the same. She seemed so… Familiar. It wasn’t possible, she knew, because she’d never been to this gas station in this part of town, but still. 

“Is that it?” The girl asked, a thick Sicilian accent coating her words. That was familiar, too, but she knew she had never met anyone with that sort of accent. 

Opal snapped out of it, “No, uh, I need… I need thirty on pump two and a pack of Marlboro menthols.” She asked, taking out the card. The girl looked at her strangely for a moment, but she reached behind her and grabbed a hard pack of cigarettes, sliding it onto the counter while ringing up all of the items presented to her. It was a lot, and she was sure she was supposed to ask for identification before ringing up cigarettes but whatever, she didn’t want the job anyway, her dad was the one who forced her to get it to teach “responsibility”. 

“That’ll be— Oh.” The girl grabbed the plastic card the shorter girl had slid over to her. Quickly swiping it, she began to bag up the items in plastic, all except for the gasoline tank. Opal took the card back in between her fingers and grabbed the handles of the bags and the handle of the plastic container and without another word, she walked back through those glass doors. An eerie presence that had remained in the store during her stay managed to escape when she did, following the girl like some sort of shadow, dreary and dark. 

Her fingers loosely gripped the metal handle of the car and pulled it open, setting the bags down at the feet of the passenger seat before stepping out to open the latch that lead to the fuel tank. The next thing she touched was the gas pump, the one she stuck into the tank- and she squeezed the handle. The strong smell of gasoline invaded her nose, and she let a sigh escape her. She wondered if she drank some of it what would happen, if it would allow her brain some energy to continue onwards, or if she would be gone once and for all, no being revived, no anything. She would be able to prevent herself from doing anything else she would have to think about like asking someone to prom, finding out someone she had talked to was murdered, the memories, the feelings, the fact that she had murdered.

Ice colored eyes kept a careful watch as to when the car’s tank reached twenty gallons, then she switched the pump over to the plastic tank she’d bought from the store. The smell was getting to her a little, and she took a deep breath of it in only to spit it back out. She couldn’t help but wish her brother was near now, so she could treat him to the same fate, so she could add to the measly body count of one. She wanted to finally have control over him like he had her for so many long, painful years- the same way she mentally envisioned his death to be. Long and painful. 

At the feeling of liquid ceasing to flow from the pump, she placed the handle back in its slot before carrying the tank into the car with her, setting it at her feet like the rest of the bags. This was madness, what was happening, what  _ had _ happened. Nothing felt quite real to Opal anymore, not the feeling of the cold metal can she grabbed, not the taste of an overly sugared energy drink, not the sound of the car running along the lone roads back to Hawkins- it all felt like a really complicated, elaborate dream that she just couldn’t shake. She began to wonder about how she had been before, the time where she enjoyed the time spent with her friends, she wondered if she still would or if this odd disease she’d contracted would prevent her from enjoying anything anymore. The thought of that broke her heart, just being cold and heartless towards her friends and it was all because she just couldn’t get these thoughts, these intrusive thoughts out of her damned head. She wanted so badly for the past few months to just be a dream she would wake up from but no, it was much too real for her to fathom. There was no waking up.

The further they inched towards Hawkins, the more she had been on edge, the more she was looking around into the dense trees of the early morning, it was still dark out and everything looked like it was made of dark matter- pitch black, the same way she had felt. “Turn into the forest.”  Jesse gave a confused look. They were still outside of town and there weren't any roads to turn to, only thick woods ahead.

"But-"

"I said do it."

His expression read as confused, utterly unused to the way Opal was acting at this moment in time, it was strange and he could say with certainty that this was not the girl he'd talked to at the arcade- something changed inside of her. The events of life up until this point had piled up on her, weighing her soul down until it turned into that of a black hole. He wanted the old her back, and little did he know that she wished the same thing. She didn't want to be this person, this murderer, this absolute psychopath. She wanted to be the girl who joked around with her friends. She missed her.

The fit in between the multitude of trees was a tight one, and Jesse was sure he had scraped up the car's black paint pretty badly, maybe even left a few dents in the metal. He had pressed on the breaks once they reached a small clearing, a tree-less patch of grass. With a sigh, the rotting corpse leaned back in his seat, looking at the area around them. How were they going to get into town now? It was close by, but it would take longer to reach there without the car.

_ Click. _

The seatbelt holding her body to the seat retracted back beside it, and she grabbed the red tank and one of the plastic bags, pulling open the handle of the door, getting out and letting it go with a quiet slam. 

"You can get out now." She looked over at Jesse, who looked back and slowly began to get up. "I mean out of the body." The possessed vessel sat back down in the seat. He was just as confused as before when she had her first plan, after she killed Doctor Clark. He didn't know what she was planning, but he could only assume that like last time, this couldn't be legal. Still, he knew he couldn't just stay in there forever, as much as he missed having a body, this wasn't one he enjoyed being in too much. It was that of a criminal, a pedophile, a murderer. Doctor Clark was a sick man, he knew that much from the time he spent looking out for the girl who wore his beloved necklace, the girl who had been just as precious in his eyes, the girl who was clearly pained because she just couldn't seem to find herself anymore.

Slowly, a faint glow escaped the body, leaving the expression blank, eyes glazed over, bloated, oozing, and worm-ridden. It was disgusting to be in there, and it was just as bad to have to sit by the decomposing reminder of your crimes. 

Jesse felt much lighter now, and he was thankful to be able to leave that damned carcass, but he just couldn't help but be concerned about how Opal would ever get home, what everyone would say about her, if her family would even let her back in. She  _ was _ still supposed to be in that asylum, she wasn't supposed to leave until there was clear improvement in her mental state. The chances of her having left that place were slim, if she hadn't died there then she would've been kept because of the fact that her condition had gotten worse, it seemed. She wasn't grounded, and her mind was miles above earth. She was lonely, she didn't have anyone to talk to for so long. Jesse couldn't have been there all the time or else the doctors could've diagnosed her with schizophrenia and she most certainly wouldn't have been let out then. Her friends were the ones who kept her grounded, they made her feel needed, and they kept her busy so she couldn't dwell on things too much.

Things became simple in that moment; Opal quite literally could not be left alone. Not only did she fear abandonment, but being alone to her thoughts allowed the small amounts of madness in her head to breed. It was truly a war upon good and evil in her head at all times, and up until now, light had reigned over darkness.

“What are you doing?” He asked curiously, walking around the car even though he could have very well just walked right through it. He liked to still keep human mannerisms; it helped him cope with being dead. His friend had been crouched down at the end of the car, Swiss army knife in hand, prying at the license plate firmly secured in the proper place. She took a deep breath, finally being able to pop the metal plate off the car. The feeling of the dirty metal in her hand made her cringe, but it was comforting to know that it was off- the identity of their crime was hidden. Opal stepped back and threw the plate off to the side, grabbing the red handle of the tank only to step forward again, screwing off the top and with that, pungent smelling liquid dousing the damp grass around the car along with the vehicle itself. Jesse watched in slight horror as he knew what she was doing, he may have been stupid but he knew what was going on. He couldn’t blame her for doing this, it assured a slight safety net with her having committed the crime but it also assured that if she  _ did  _ get caught then she would not only be charged with murder but with destroying the evidence. 

It didn’t take long for the tank to run empty and it took even less time to throw the tank on top of the car's now dented hood, retracing her steps back to the plastic bag set on the ground. The bag made a crinkling sound as she dug through it with her small hands, eventually grabbing a match box to hold in between her white teeth, then she moved to grab a pack of wipes and hair ties. Opal reached out and held the pack of wipes to Jesse, who knit his brows together. He didn't need those, he couldn't get dirty. He was a  _ ghost _ for christsake, ghosts couldn't get dirty, and yet her eyes narrowed slightly. "Hold them." Oh. He grabbed them from her and watched as her fingers combed through her tangled hair to pull it up in a ponytail, most likely so she wouldn't get anymore DNA on the scene. She didn't want to contaminate the area with her presence, and so after that, she took the pack of wipes out of his hand, ripping them open with matches still held tightly between her teeth. 

He watched as she pulled the white cloth out of the plastic, moving it over her face and down her arms and legs, anywhere she could reach without taking the clothes off of her body, as much as she wanted to. Hospital gowns and slippers weren’t typically qualified as clothing, and she longed to be in her own clothes again. These were dirty, they smelled of chemicals and rot and for once, Opal didn’t look or smell too good, she didn’t look like something out of a fairytale rather than a nightmare. It was fitting, because this was like her own personal nightmare. 

The wipes she’d been cleaning herself with stained red and brow with blood and dirt and sweat, and she began to wonder what that cashier was thinking when she came into the store, why she didn’t mention the sporadic dots of crimson and the fact that her face was smeared with grime, and why her hair looked a mess. She didn’t even mention the damned hospital gown, something that was definitely out of the ordinary. Opal couldn’t help but think that the girl should’ve definitely called the police, to save her from causing anymore trouble. In fact, it was almost as if she wanted to be caught so she wouldn’t have to worry about anything for the rest of her days. She would be in a cell and that would just be her life until she died. She supposed the only forces drawing her to do these things, taking the measures to not get caught, was mere instinct. She wanted to see her friends, yes, more than anything and she was rather excited to finally get to see them but she knew that she would be lying to their faces, that she wasn’t exactly the same girl they knew. She was a criminal, and she would have to keep this weighted secret hidden from them, behind her back. And it was for that reason that the instinct overpowered the anxiety bumbling in her chest, squeezing like a boa constrictor, violently thrusting into her stomach until bile came out. 

A day’s rest and she should be fine, if she could manage to get any rest. It was all so hazy, she wasn’t sure where the anxiety came from. Murder, the lack of seeing her friends, the impending doom of getting caught, dealing with the consequences of things… Not to mention the problems she had  _ before _ she decided to act upon her depression. Her friend’s murder, prom, the deal with Mike and Richie, just… Everything. It was so much and she just wanted it all to stop- she wanted to excess clutter in her mind to just leave her alone so she could act like a normal fucking teenager.

Opal tossed the wipes onto the car as well, watching them ultimately fall to the gasoline-soaked grass as a sort of reminder of where her life had turned. Slowly, she pulled the box from her mouth and opened it, her eyes never leaving the car, Jesse’s gaze mirroring hers, both dead and looking straight ahead, her fingers noisily grabbing for a single wooden stick.

_ Ffffft _

Her fingers fumbled slightly with the match after she had dragged it across the rough side of the box to ignite the small flame. In one fluid motion, without hesitation, she flicked the match from her hand and the flame grew bigger. Glass crackled and the fire grew with every flame reaching more fuel. It was only a matter of time until the thing exploded, she thought. She reached down next to her and absent-mindedly threw the rest of the bag into the flame, watching it shrivel up in a long, cold stare, the license plate hugged tightly to her chest. 

“What are you gonna do now?” Jesse asked, looking over at her. She blinked and spun around on her heel, calmly walking in the direction the road went. “I’m gonna walk back.” It was a while away, but it wasn’t that incredibly far. It was also still dark and the roads leading up to the small town were quiet around this time. He hadn’t wanted her to walk all the way back to Hawkins, because she looked like she didn’t have any energy left but like usual, Opal seemed to have set her mind on this and he knew he wouldn’t be able to stop her. 

Her hands had fidgeted with the plastic of the pack of cigarettes in her pocket as she walked, Jesse having retreated back into the pendant resting on her chest. She was halfway there, and the closer she got, the stranger she began to feel- she felt a sense of familiarity, a sense of comfort, something that calmed her racing heart, something that felt warm and smelt like cookies. 

_ “It feels like she’s close…” _

_ “Where?” _

_ “I-I don’t know! I can only see so much…” _

_ “El, can you help?” _

_ “I can only do what she can.” _

Opal’s stomach turned and she looked ahead. Swallowing thickly, she focused in on the sounds of the voices echoing off in her skull. Her brows furrowed and she looked down at the ground, now wishing she’d kept those matches instead of throwing them in the fire with everything else. It was still dark out, even with the brink of a sunrise and she still had a pack of cigarettes that’d be useless now without a flame to ignite the embers. Still, she broke open the pack and slid a filter in between her lips to comfort her racing pulse, racing because she knew those voices. 

_ “You did it when she was… When she— “  _

_ “When she was in a coma?” _

_ “Y-yeah.” _

_ “She’s hard to contact.” _

_ “She’s getting closer, though.” _

The sun was coming up, and she was walking further and further into the town. What day was it? Opal’s brow furrowed, and she looked around at the nearby shops that peaked up from the veil created by the forest she was walking in. This walking had calmed her as well as the feeling of that unlit cigarette between her teeth, but now she was anxious for another reason entirely. It was almost as if the murder, the ink covering her brain melted off in thought of what could lie farther along her path.

_ A gasp. _

_ “What? What is it?” _

_ “She feels so close…” _

_ “Is she okay?” _

Her pace quickened to a sprint, ignoring the wet ground beneath her, the license plate she held tucked tightly under her arm as she sped ahead, running over winding roots and broken branches as if they were nothing. They  _ were _ nothing at that moment in time, the only thing that mattered was getting to those voices, the very voices she’d longed to hear ever since that night in the bath with blackness clouding her vision. She wanted to seize the chance to speak to them once again, to let her mind finally be at ease with knowing that she wouldn’t be alone anymore.

With ragged breathing, her shoes smacked against the concrete as she neared a familiar house, decorated in plants of many kind, overflowing with beautiful greens of each shade. Just a little more. She needed to reach a different house, a smaller one, which wouldn’t be far away. She ran, deeper into the woods, until there was a small clearing with a little house and an even smaller shed in the back. Opal slowed, her steps becoming more quiet, and now the voices didn’t echo in her head but rather she heard them more clearly, the closer she approached the small wooden shed. Castle Byers, as they liked to call it.

“I think so, she just seems to be a little out of breath. She’s approaching something pretty cautiously.”

“Come on Bons, you’re freaking me out.”

The large group of kids had been packed together in the small structure, all attention on a taller girl with sweet, golden rose locks hovering just above her shoulder. Her eyes were closed tightly, or at least it could be assumed because of the hair falling over one of them. Even so, concentration was present on her young expression, concentration and a form of frustration. The rest of the children were leaned forward, waiting expectantly for her to say something to put their worried minds to rest. They wanted her to confirm that she was okay, whoever  _ she _ may have been. Bonnibel’s mind went fuzzy, though, and she let out a deep breath, a trickle of crimson flowing out of her nose as she panted and shook her head in frantic confusion.

“I lost her—“

A shorter figure managed to squeeze her way into the already packed area, kneeling down with a lopsided grin, metal plate in hand, dark circles, hospital clothes and all. The group turned and stared with wide eyes, mouths agape in shock.

“Anyone have a light?”

Hands fidgeted for pockets and bags and turned up in a flash, now tightly gripping lighters, flames held up to Opal as if this were some cult, worshiping their deity with a flame. Opal laughed quietly and placed the end of her cigarette into about five different lighters, sucking in the hollows of her cheeks, and in one swift move, the lighters were placed up and there were over a dozen pairs of arms gripping onto her, breathing exclamations of relief, curiosity, and grief of all things. It seemed that the little shack couldn’t handle so many kids and so many overflowing emotions, because there was a crack, and then another, and then there were planks of wood on the ground surrounding the pile of embracing, teary-eyed freshmen. 

“Fuck! Guys!”

“ **Shit!** ”

“Calm down, you big baby! We can just build a bigger one. Together.”

A voice whined for a short second before having been cut off with a kiss on the cheek, this had been like the second time Castle Byers was destroyed but never had it been destroyed from the overwhelming amounts of joy. There had been just a few more concerns for Opal at that moment. When would she be returning for school? Would Linda and James send her back to the institution? How would she hide the license plate, surely others would notice a burning car with a corpse resting inside. But for once, she didn’t bother with worrying about such things. She was all too enveloped in the warm bodies of her friends, the people she had most looked forward to seeing again. All except one friend was present, the most illusive and mysterious of Opal’s crew. She still had to pay Jeffrey a visit, to let him know she was okay, and to remind him of prom. She’d been worried about him for the longest, and she knew it was only guilt for what she’d done, the exact thing she made him promise to never do. She felt like she failed him, but it would be okay as long as no one found out. She would rather die before let a crime rip her away from her friends once again.


End file.
